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GENEVA, Sept 30, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The United Nations said Tuesday it was seeking a waiver from the Taliban's shutdown of internet and mobile phone services in Afghanistan, saying the blackout was hurting a country already suffering from multiple crises.

Indrika Ratwatte, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, said the shutdown, which started Monday, was affecting day-to-day business and the provision of critical aid.

"This is another crisis on top of the existing crises -- utterly unnecessary, in that sense, for this kind of interruption to take place -- and the impact is going to be on the lives of Afghan people," he told journalists in Geneva, speaking from Kabul via satellite link-up.

After decades of conflict, Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest countries, facing a protracted humanitarian crisis deepened by severe drought, an earthquake a month ago, and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back to the country by neighbours Pakistan and Iran in recent years.

Ratwatte said the UN had been left in a "very dire situation" for communications, with their landlines also out.

"We are in discussions with the government to seek a waiver for critical connectivity for us," he said.

"We have been trying to reach out with the relevant authorities and even they're having challenges in communicating between themselves."

The UN has gone into "essential business continuity" mode, using radios to communicate and scaling back its operations.

It is in touch with satellite service providers to try to get increased bandwidth.

Ratwatte said the UN had not been given a reason for the disruption.

He said sources had informally said the blackout might be short-lived, "but we haven't been officially told anything".

Ratwatte said that "critical medical services", supply chains, vaccinations "and assistance that keeps the basic essential services functioning in the country is going to be impacted".

Besides aid, he said, the blackout was affecting banking and financial services, and "remittances that come from abroad which are critical for these communities -- that's been cut off", while "international flights are not coming in".