Afghanistan's main airport is at a standstill as the country grapples with the fallout of a nationwide internet shutdown imposed by the Taliban government.

The Taliban has yet to give an official reason for the decision, which took effect on Monday, but did say it would last until further notice. The UN said it risked inflicting significant harm.

Communication within Afghanistan, and out to the wider world, has been severely affected, as have essential services - including banking and payments - and access to online education, a lifeline for many women and girls.

Kabul airport, meanwhile, was 'nearly deserted', according to one resident, with no evidence of planes arriving or leaving.

#Flight tracking service Flightradar24 showed that a handful of incoming and outgoing flights on Tuesday had been cancelled. Many more simply had their status marked as 'unknown'.

One passenger who planned to fly into Kabul International Airport on Tuesday was told there would be no flights until Thursday at the earliest. Another local said all flights from Kabul airport had been cancelled since Monday evening.

He added that life in Kabul 'seems to be normal', but there was 'no communication at all' across the country.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan called on the Taliban authorities to immediately and fully restore nationwide internet and telecommunications access.

'The cut in access has left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world, and risks inflicting significant harm on the Afghan people, including by threatening economic stability and exacerbating one of the world's worst humanitarian crises,' it said in a statement.

The Taliban government has been severing fibre-optic internet connections across several provinces for weeks. This began in a handful of provinces but did not impact the capital Kabul until Monday.

Najibullah, a 42-year-old shopkeeper in Kabul, told news agency AFP that residents felt 'blind without phones and internet'.

One Kabul journalist said they were unable to call or contact guests for interviews and had to send camera crews directly to their interviewees' homes.

International news agencies have lost contact with their offices in Kabul, and mobile internet and satellite TV service also face severe disruptions across the country.

This latest internet shutdown is part of a series of restrictions enforced by the Taliban since regaining control of Afghanistan in 2021.