Internet in Afghanistan
Encyclopedia
Internet in Afghanistan began in 2002 after the Taliban government
was removed from power and replaced by the Karzai administration. It was banned by the Taliban in July 2001 because it was thought to broadcast obscene, immoral, and anti-Islam material, and because the few internet
users at the time could not be easily monitored as they obtained their telephone lines from Pakistan
.
Afghanistan
was given legal control of the ".af
" domain in 2003, and the Afghanistan Network Information Center (AFGNIC) was established to administer domain names. The Ministry of Communications charged with spinning off all telecommunications operations and services to a newly created independent company called Afghan Telecom
. Up from five functional internet service provider
s (ISPs) in 2003, Afghanistan supported twenty-two internet hosts and seven main ISPs, and a growing number of internet cafés and telekiosks (public access points located in post offices and at Kabul International Airport
).
The current government recognizes the internet as an important source of growth and development for the country, believing that ICT
can create opportunities for disadvantaged groups and improve the access of the rural poor to markets. In November 2006, the Ministry of Communications contracted a Chinese firms (ZTE
) for the establishment of a countrywide fiber optical cable network. By 2010, there were at least 46 ISPs in the country, with 1 million internet users.
The independence of the media was also brought into question by the March 2004 Media Law enacted by the transitional government, which handed the Minister of Culture and Information important veto powers (e.g., foreign agencies and international organizations may print news bulletins only after obtaining permission from the Minister) and leadership of a Media Evaluation Commission that reviews appeals of rejections of licenses by the Ministry of Information and Culture. The proposed amendment to the Media Law in late 2006 dissolved the Media Evaluation Commission and two other regulatory bodies, the National Commission of Radio and Television Broadcast, and an investigation commission that reviewed complaints against journalists and decided which cases should be forwarded to courts for prosecution.
With the approval of the Telecommunications Services Regulation Act in 2005 (Telecom Law), an independent regulatory agency called the Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) was created out of the merger of the Telecommunications Regulatory Board and the State Radio Inspection Department (SRID) under the Ministry of Communications. The TRA assumed responsibility for telecommunications licensing as well as promoting sustainable competition for all telecommunications services.
Licensing requirements are straightforward: companies must abide by the law to be licensed by the TRA, and only those with licenses can sell telecommunications services. Of the two types of ISP licenses, transit and national licenses, only transit licenses allow ISPs to establish international connectivity. Part of the TRA mandate is to protect users from the abuse of monopoly market share: companies determined to have “significant market power” must apply to have an amended license and are subject to additional penalties for anti-competitive behavior. A license may be revoked if the licensee has broken the law or has failed to fix repeated breaches in the agreement, has misleading/false information in their application, or does not pay the fee even after a warning.
Under the Telecom Law, ISPs are duty-bound to protect user information and confidentiality. However, the TRA is also authorized to demand the operator or service provider to monitor communications between users as well as Internet traffic in order to trace “harassing, offensive, or illegal” telecommunications, although what constitutes these prohibited communications is not specified. Where an issue of national security or a criminal case is involved, operators and service providers must hand over the required information and give the authorities immediate access to their network. In cases where there is no such immediate need, the TRA still has the right to “relevant information” as long as the TRA has given two weeks’ notice. In its Acceptable Use Policy, the AFGNIC prohibits the use of the “.af” domain to make any communications to commit a criminal offense; racially vilify others; violate intellectual property rights; and distribute, publish, or link to pornographic materials that a “reasonable person as a member of the community of Afghanistan would consider to be obscene or indecent.” The ban on spam or junk mail also includes unsolicited political or religious tracts along with commercial advertising and other information.
On June 12, 2006, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan’s national intelligence agency, issued a list of broadcasting and publishing activities that “must be banned” in light of heightened security problems that could deteriorate public morale. The list of proscribed press activities was quite extensive and attributed negative intention, causality, and morality to reporting on specific issues (primarily terrorism and the Taliban insurgency). President Hamid Karzai denied these were instructions, saying they were merely guidelines and a request for media cooperation. Restricted activities included the publication or broadcasting of exaggerated reports against national unity or peace; decrees, statements and interviews of armed organizations and terrorist groups; and even the proscription against news on terrorism serving as the lead story.
OpenNet Initiative
testing found no evidence of filtering in Afghanistan, although testing was not as extensive there as it was in some other countries.
, Jalalabad
and Khost
have the most Internet users. Most rural
towns and villages throughout the country do not have access to the Internet. Herat
is the only major city in the country with no access to the Internet at all..
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was founded in 1996 when the Taliban began their rule of Afghanistan and ended with their fall from power in 2001...
was removed from power and replaced by the Karzai administration. It was banned by the Taliban in July 2001 because it was thought to broadcast obscene, immoral, and anti-Islam material, and because the few internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
users at the time could not be easily monitored as they obtained their telephone lines from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
was given legal control of the ".af
.af
.af is the Internet country code top-level domain for Afghanistan. It is administered by AFGNIC, a service of the UNDP and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan....
" domain in 2003, and the Afghanistan Network Information Center (AFGNIC) was established to administer domain names. The Ministry of Communications charged with spinning off all telecommunications operations and services to a newly created independent company called Afghan Telecom
Afghan Telecom
Afghan Telecom is a telecom company offering fixed line, wireless voice and data services under a 25 year license in Afghanistan. The company was previously government owned and operated until 2005 when the Afghan Ministry of Communications spun it off into a private entity. In 2008, investors are...
. Up from five functional internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s (ISPs) in 2003, Afghanistan supported twenty-two internet hosts and seven main ISPs, and a growing number of internet cafés and telekiosks (public access points located in post offices and at Kabul International Airport
Kabul International Airport
-Facilities:The airport has two terminal buildings, the modern for international flights and the Soviet built one for domestic flights. Several hangars along the runway are for military aircraft...
).
The current government recognizes the internet as an important source of growth and development for the country, believing that ICT
Information and communication technologies
Information and communications technology or information and communication technology, usually abbreviated as ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology , but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of...
can create opportunities for disadvantaged groups and improve the access of the rural poor to markets. In November 2006, the Ministry of Communications contracted a Chinese firms (ZTE
ZTE
ZTE Corporation formerly Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company headquartered in Shenzhen, China...
) for the establishment of a countrywide fiber optical cable network. By 2010, there were at least 46 ISPs in the country, with 1 million internet users.
Legal and regulatory frameworks
Freedom of expression is inviolable under the Afghanistan Constitution, and every Afghan has the right to print or publish topics without prior submission to state authorities in accordance with the law. However, the normative limits of the law are clear: under the Constitution no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam. Mass media law has become increasingly attentive to a more vigorous adherence to this principle. The Media Law decreed by President Hamid Karzai in December 2005, just before the national legislature was formed, included a ban on four broad content categories: the publication of news contrary to Islam and other religions; slanderous or insulting materials concerning individuals; matters contrary to the Afghan Constitution or criminal law; and the exposure of the identities of victims of violence. A draft amendment of the law circulating in 2006 added four additional proscribed categories: content jeopardizing stability, national security, and territorial integrity of Afghanistan; false information that might disrupt public opinion; promotion of any religion other than Islam; and "material which might damage physical well-being, psychological and moral security of people, especially children and the youth."The independence of the media was also brought into question by the March 2004 Media Law enacted by the transitional government, which handed the Minister of Culture and Information important veto powers (e.g., foreign agencies and international organizations may print news bulletins only after obtaining permission from the Minister) and leadership of a Media Evaluation Commission that reviews appeals of rejections of licenses by the Ministry of Information and Culture. The proposed amendment to the Media Law in late 2006 dissolved the Media Evaluation Commission and two other regulatory bodies, the National Commission of Radio and Television Broadcast, and an investigation commission that reviewed complaints against journalists and decided which cases should be forwarded to courts for prosecution.
With the approval of the Telecommunications Services Regulation Act in 2005 (Telecom Law), an independent regulatory agency called the Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) was created out of the merger of the Telecommunications Regulatory Board and the State Radio Inspection Department (SRID) under the Ministry of Communications. The TRA assumed responsibility for telecommunications licensing as well as promoting sustainable competition for all telecommunications services.
Licensing requirements are straightforward: companies must abide by the law to be licensed by the TRA, and only those with licenses can sell telecommunications services. Of the two types of ISP licenses, transit and national licenses, only transit licenses allow ISPs to establish international connectivity. Part of the TRA mandate is to protect users from the abuse of monopoly market share: companies determined to have “significant market power” must apply to have an amended license and are subject to additional penalties for anti-competitive behavior. A license may be revoked if the licensee has broken the law or has failed to fix repeated breaches in the agreement, has misleading/false information in their application, or does not pay the fee even after a warning.
Under the Telecom Law, ISPs are duty-bound to protect user information and confidentiality. However, the TRA is also authorized to demand the operator or service provider to monitor communications between users as well as Internet traffic in order to trace “harassing, offensive, or illegal” telecommunications, although what constitutes these prohibited communications is not specified. Where an issue of national security or a criminal case is involved, operators and service providers must hand over the required information and give the authorities immediate access to their network. In cases where there is no such immediate need, the TRA still has the right to “relevant information” as long as the TRA has given two weeks’ notice. In its Acceptable Use Policy, the AFGNIC prohibits the use of the “.af” domain to make any communications to commit a criminal offense; racially vilify others; violate intellectual property rights; and distribute, publish, or link to pornographic materials that a “reasonable person as a member of the community of Afghanistan would consider to be obscene or indecent.” The ban on spam or junk mail also includes unsolicited political or religious tracts along with commercial advertising and other information.
On June 12, 2006, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan’s national intelligence agency, issued a list of broadcasting and publishing activities that “must be banned” in light of heightened security problems that could deteriorate public morale. The list of proscribed press activities was quite extensive and attributed negative intention, causality, and morality to reporting on specific issues (primarily terrorism and the Taliban insurgency). President Hamid Karzai denied these were instructions, saying they were merely guidelines and a request for media cooperation. Restricted activities included the publication or broadcasting of exaggerated reports against national unity or peace; decrees, statements and interviews of armed organizations and terrorist groups; and even the proscription against news on terrorism serving as the lead story.
OpenNet Initiative
OpenNet Initiative
The OpenNet Initiative is a joint project whose goal is to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations. The project employs a number of technical means, as well as an international network of investigators, to determine the extent and nature of government-run...
testing found no evidence of filtering in Afghanistan, although testing was not as extensive there as it was in some other countries.
Usage per city
KabulKabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, Jalalabad
Jalalabad
Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...
and Khost
Khost
Khost or Khowst is a city in eastern Afghanistan. It is the capital of Khost province, which is a mountainous region near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan...
have the most Internet users. Most rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
towns and villages throughout the country do not have access to the Internet. Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
is the only major city in the country with no access to the Internet at all..