.af

Top-level Internet domain for Afghanistan .af Dot AF 2024.png 16 October 1997 Country code top-level domain Active AFGNIC Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Entities connected with Afghanistan Some use in Afghanistan Third-level names have restrictions based on which second-level name they are beneath. Registrations are taken directly at the second level or at the third level beneath various second-level subdomains ICANN MoU; Policies Policies nic.af 5960 26 August 2020 .af is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Afghanistan. It is administered by AFGNIC, a service of the UNDP. History The .af domain was delegated to Abdul Razeeq in 1997, a year after Taliban fighters had captured Kabul and founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. NetNames of London initially maintained the domain following an agreement with the IANA.https://www.iana.org/reports/2003/af-report-08jan2003.html IANA Report on Redelegation of the .af Top-Level Domain Razeeq later disappeared, halting some services. The domain was reopened on 10 March 2003, as a joint program between UNDP and the Afghan Ministry of Communications.https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Afghanistan-to-Launch-Internet-Domain-7199390.php 8 March 2003 Pitman Tom 26 August 2020 Midland Daily News Afghanistan to Launch Internet Domain 11 April 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210411184429/https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Afghanistan-to-Launch-Internet-Domain-7199390.php dead As of 26 August 2020, .af was used by 5,960 domains. With the fall of Kabul in 2021, the .af domain again came under the control of the Taliban. ICANN said it "defers decision making to within the country".Bode Karl Afghanistan's Government Websites Are Frozen in Time https://www.vice.com/en/article/afghanistans-government-websites-are-frozen-in-time/ 30 December 2021 Vice 31 August 2021 enThe battle for control of Afghanistan's internet Stokel-Walker Chris https://www.wired.co.uk/article/afghanistan-taliban-internet 30 December 2021 Wired UK 7 September 2021 Registration Registration is made directly at the second level, or on the third level beneath various categorised subdomains at the second level. Third-level domains have restrictions based on which second-level domain they are registered under. Registration on the second level is unrestricted, but more expensive. All fees are higher for international registrants. Restrictions In 2024, a number of .af domains including "broke.af" and "queer.af" went offline. The Afghan Ministry of Communications and IT said that they were registered through Gandi, a France-based domain name registrar, and cited Gandi's failure to make payments as the reason for suspension.Satter Raphael 2024-02-16 'broke.af' goes offline as Afghan web domains suspended amid payment dispute https://www.reuters.com/technology/brokeaf-goes-offline-afghan-web-domains-suspended-amid-payment-dispute-2024-02-16/ 2024-02-17 Reuters Second-level domains .gov.af .com.af .org.af .net.af .edu.af .tv.af .media.afDot AF New Announcement https://nic.af/en/news/af nic.af 26 August 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20201003153110/https://nic.af/en/news/af 3 October 2020 dead References Domain Count Statistics for TLDs https://research.domaintools.com/statistics/tld-counts/ domaintools.com 26 August 2020 External links AFGNIC official site IANA .af whois information AfghanServer, .af registrant Category:Internet in Afghanistan Category:Country code top-level domains Category:Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries members Category:Internet properties established in 1997 sv:Toppdomän#A