The hacker group “Afghan Dragons” has claimed responsibility for taking the Taliban Ministry of Defense’s website offline.
In an interview with Afghanistan International, the group said the cyberattack was carried out in protest against the Taliban’s crackdown on demonstrators in Afghanistan, particularly the detention of women in Herat.
At the time of publication, the Taliban Ministry of Defense’s website remained inaccessible. However, officials from the ministry had not commented on the outage or responded to the group’s claim.
“Afghan Dragons” also stated that it has no intention of targeting Afghanistan’s critical infrastructure. However, the group said that the Taliban’s policies and actions had compelled it to carry out what it described as a protest cyberattack.
Over the past month, the Taliban have repeatedly detained women in Herat. The group has also suppressed peaceful demonstrations by Herat residents protesting the harassment and detention of women. These actions have drawn widespread condemnation both within Afghanistan and from the international community.
The “Afghan Dragons” hacker group previously claimed responsibility last year for cyberattacks against the websites of several Taliban-run ministries and government institutions, asserting that it had successfully taken many of them offline.
In previous years, another hacker group known as “TalibLeaks” targeted the databases of several government agencies under Taliban control, publishing online documents and data from dozens of ministries and state institutions.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
