.af is the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

country code A country code is a short alphanumeric identification code for countries and dependent areas. Its primary use is in data processing and communications. Several identification systems have been developed. The term ''country code'' frequently re ...

top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domain name, domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the DNS root zone, root zone of the nam ...

(

ccTLD A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all tw ...

) for

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. It is administered by AFGNIC, a service of the

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

History

The .af domain was delegated to Abdul Razeeq in 1997, a year after

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

fighters had captured Kabul and founded the

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. NetNames of London initially maintained the domain following an agreement with the

IANA The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Internet P ...

. Razeeq later disappeared, halting some services. The domain was reopened on 10 March 2003, as a joint program between

and the

Afghan Ministry of Communications The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (, ) (MCIT) is an organ of the government of Afghanistan. Current communications minister is Najibullah Haqqani. The Ministry was subjected to a suicide attack in 2019. The Ministry ...

. As of 26 August 2020, .af was used by 5960 domains. With the fall of Kabul in 2021, the .af domain again came under the control of the Taliban.

ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is a global multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization headquartered in the United States responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several dat ...

said it "defers decision making to within the country".

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 Gandi SAS (''Gestion et Attribution des Noms de Domaine sur Internet'' – "Management and Allocation of Domain Names on the Internet") is a French company providing domain name registration, web hosting, and related services. The company's main ...

, a France-based

domain name registrar A domain name registrar is a company, person, or office that manages the reservation of Internet domain names. A domain name registrar must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) Domain name registry, registry or a country code top-l ...

, and cited Gandi's failure to make payments as the reason for suspension.

Second-level domains

*.gov.af *.com.af *.org.af *.net.af *.edu.af *.tv.af *.media.af

References

External links

AFGNIC official site

AfghanServer, .af registrant
Internet in Afghanistan Country code top-level domains Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries members Internet properties established in 1997 {{Afghanistan-stub sv:Toppdomän#A