Social media restrictions and two-day internet shutdown rattle Afghanistan

Airports and banks were forced to shut down. Government employees idled aimlessly in the corridors of their ministries. Teenage girls, barred from attending school, lost much of their access to the outside world.

In shutting down the internet and cellphone services across Afghanistan last month, the Taliban government turned the clock back decades, in a move reminiscent of their first time in power from 1996 to 2001. Connectivity came back after two days, but this week, the Afghan government blocked certain types of content on social media apps such…