Taliban Internet Ban Severs Women Entrepreneurs' Last Revenue Channel

In September 2025, Taliban internet restrictions severed Afghan women artisans from online marketplaces that had become their primary income source. Textile and embroidery producers who built export-facing micro-businesses through social media saw revenues collapse. Already barred from formal employment and retail work, women entrepreneurs had turned to home-based craft production as an economic lifeline. The digital cutoff eliminated the one channel that partially offset their exclusion from the physical economy.