Power Struggle within the Taliban: The Internet Shutdown Incident

Thu Jan 15 2026 11:33:18 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Recent events reveal a deepening rift among Taliban leaders, highlighted by a controversial internet shutdown. Internal factions are vying for control as the supreme leader's power is challenged.

A BBC investigation has uncovered escalating tensions within the Taliban, particularly after the supreme leader's controversial order to shut down the internet in Afghanistan. This incident sparked a rebellion from those in the Kabul group, who independently restored the internet. The internal conflict reflects a broader struggle between traditionalists loyal to Akhundzada and reformist elements desiring a more modern, engaging approach for Afghanistan.

It was a piece of audio obtained by the BBC that revealed what worries the Taliban's leader most.

Not an external danger, but one from within Afghanistan, which the Taliban seized control of as the previous government collapsed and the US withdrew in 2021.

He warned of insiders in the government pitted against each other in the Islamic Emirate the Taliban set up to govern the country.

In the leaked clip, the supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada can be heard giving a speech saying that internal disagreements could eventually bring them all down.

As a result of these divisions, the emirate will collapse and end, he warned.

The speech, made to Taliban members at a madrassa in the southern city of Kandahar in January 2025, was more fuel to the fire of rumours which had been circulating for months - rumours of differences at the very top of the Taliban.

It is a split the Taliban leadership has always denied - including when asked directly by the BBC.

But the rumours prompted the BBC's Afghan service to begin a year-long investigation into the highly secretive group - conducting more than 100 interviews with current and former members of the Taliban, as well as local sources, experts and former diplomats.

Because of the sensitivity over reporting this story, the BBC has agreed not to identify them for their safety.

Now, for the first time, we have been able to map two distinct groups at the very top of the Taliban - each presenting competing visions for Afghanistan.

One entirely loyal to Akhundzada, who, from his base in Kandahar, is driving the country towards his vision of a strict Islamic Emirate - isolated from the modern world, where religious figures loyal to him control every aspect of society.

And a second, made up of powerful Taliban members largely based in the capital Kabul, advocating for an Afghanistan which - while still following a strict interpretation of Islam - engages with the outside, builds the country's economy and even allows girls and women access to an education they are currently denied beyond primary school.

In late September, Akhundzada ordered the internet and phones to be shut off, severing Afghanistan from the rest of the world.

Three days later the internet was back, with no explanation of why.

But what had happened behind the scenes was seismic, say insiders. The Kabul group had acted against Akhundzada's order and switched the internet back on.

As one Taliban insider put it: this was nothing short of a rebellion.

The Taliban's supreme leader is a man with a deep distrust of the internet; he believes its content to be against Islamic teachings.

The Kabul group believe that a modern country cannot survive without it. The supreme leader's internet shutdown order began in provinces controlled by Akhundzada's allies, before it was expanded to the whole country.

Sources close to the Kabul group and within the Taliban government described what happened next - an almost unprecedented moment in the Taliban's history.

What Akhundzada had hinted at in his speech months earlier had come to pass: insiders were threatening Taliban unity.