Afghanistan’s Taliban-run Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has announced that the National Internet Exchange of Afghanistan (Nixa) is ready to begin operations, creating a domestic gateway for internet traffic. The ministry said the project is intended to improve connection quality and speed, strengthen data security and reduce the country’s reliance on external routing infrastructure.
The project was developed by the ministry’s General Directorate of Information Technology Infrastructure to keep more internet traffic within Afghanistan. The ministry said the new infrastructure will allow telecommunications companies, internet service providers and other organisations to exchange domestic traffic through a national gateway rather than relying on routes through neighbouring countries.
According to the ministry, Nixa will also provide capacity for domestic hosting of websites, email, shared hosting and other digital services. The project is intended to support government agencies, educational institutions and the private sector.
The ministry said it spent 10 million afghanis, or about $154,000, on the project. The infrastructure includes firewalls, servers, backup systems, virtualisation equipment, internet traffic analysis and log-management systems.
The Nixa project is not new. It was launched under Afghanistan’s former Islamic Republic government and had been active since at least 2016. A June 2021 connection agreement described Nixa as a neutral internet exchange designed to allow internet service providers, telecommunications companies and content providers to interconnect and route traffic more efficiently.
The Taliban’s control over the new national exchange has also raised concerns about internet restrictions and surveillance. A domestic IXP can give authorities greater control over national internet traffic and could make it easier to impose restrictions or shut down internet access nationwide.
Those concerns follow previous restrictions by Taliban authorities on websites and applications, as well as a ban on high-speed internet delivered through fibre-optic cables in September 2025. The restrictions culminated in a nationwide telecommunications shutdown from 29 September to 1 October 2025.
At the same time, the project could increase Afghanistan’s digital sovereignty by reducing the need to route internet traffic through foreign networks. The ministry has also presented the infrastructure as a way to reduce exposure to foreign surveillance. These concerns have gained importance amid military clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan and concerns over Pakistan’s stronger surveillance capabilities.
The launch of Nixa is therefore expected to give Afghanistan greater control over its domestic internet infrastructure. The same infrastructure could also increase the Taliban authorities’ ability to manage, restrict or monitor internet traffic across the country.
