Internet in Afghanistan is available in all of its 34 provinces, and is used by over 9 million people as of 2022.[1][2][3] The internet officially became available in 2002 during the presidency of Hamid Karzai. Prior to that year, it was prohibited because the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan believed that it may be used to broadcast obscene, immoral and anti-Islamic material, and because the few internet users at the time could not be easily monitored as they obtained their telephone lines from neighboring Pakistan.[4][5]
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 and Information Technology (MCIT), charged a newly created independent company called Afghan Telecom with spinning off all telecommunications operations and services. Up from five functional internet service providers (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 country currently has around 6,000 .af domains.[5]
Afghans have long recognized the internet as an important source of growth and development for the country, believing that information and communication technologies can create opportunities for disadvantaged groups and improve the access of the rural poor to markets.[4] In November 2006, the MCIT contracted a Chinese firm (ZTE) for the establishment optical fiber cable network in the country.[6] The price of internet gradually began reducing in the late 2010s.[7]3G services began in the country in 2012 and are provided by all major telecommunication companies, including Afghan Telecom, Afghan Wireless, Etisalat, MTN Group, Roshan, and Salaam Network. 4G services became available as of 2017.[8][9][10]
Legal and regulatory frameworks
Internet user at Kandahar University in the south of the countryFemale students using the internet at Herat University in western AfghanistanAfghans using internet in Kunduz Province, in northern Afghanistan
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Legal rights to freedom of expression and its limits
Freedom of expression is inviolable under the Constitution of Afghanistan, 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 limit 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 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 the 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".[4]
Independence of the media
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.[4]
Telecommunications services and their regulation
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.[4]
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.[4]
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 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 no such immediate need exists, 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.[4]
Security and intelligence
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 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.[4]
OpenNet Initiative testing found no evidence of filtering in Afghanistan, although testing was not as extensive there as it was in some other countries.[4]
Statistics and services
The Internet is available in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. The country currently has 9,237,489 regular internet users.[1] According to a 2020 estimate, over 7 million residents, which is roughly 18% of the population,[11] had access to the internet.[3] It was reported in 2010 that Kabul, Jalalabad and Khost had the most internet users.[12] The country has 327,000 IP addresses and around 6,000 .afdomains.[5]
In early 2011, Paywast (in Dari پیوست ), a local mobile social network was launched. It is based on mobile, and its users connect with their friends and create groups and communities through SMS. With more than half of the Afghan population owning a mobile phone, Paywast is believed to have more than a million users across Afghanistan. The social network is available on the AWCC, Etisalat, and MTNGSM networks.[13]
Internet service providers
The following are some of the internet service providers in Afghanistan:[14]
