.af
| Status: | Active |
| Country: | Afghanistan |
| Introduced: | October 16, 1997 |
| Manager: | Ministry of Communications and IT |
| Registry Provider: | AfgNIC (Ministry of Communications and IT) |
| Type: | ccTLD |
| Website: | nic.af |
More information: 
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.af is the ccTLD for Afghanistan. It is managed by the Ministry of Communications and IT.[1]
Its national domain administrator and registry operator are both governmental organizations. Afghanistan Network Information Centre (AFGNIC) is the operator and a department under the TLD Administrator, ICT Directorate, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.[2]
Delegation History[edit | edit source]
The .af ccTLD was one of the first ones to be re-delegated in the Middle East region. It was re-delegated by IANA in October 1997, wherein NetNames agreed to perform technical operations and provide free registration services on a temporary basis, until a stable registry operation could be established within the country. However, due to the country's ungoing civil war in the late '90s, NetNames, in consultation with IANA, halted registration of .af domain names, though it continued to make nameserver updates and to provide DNS resolution for the zone. By early 2000, NetNames and IANA could no longer have an on-site administrative contact person, as the one they did have disappeared.[2]
It was under approval of the Afghan Interim Administration, which ceased existing about a year after the September 9/11 attacks, that the UNDP assumed the administration of the .af registry. Only a very small Internet community was found in Afghanistan at that time, primarily established by international organizations and NGOs located in Kabul. The UNDP agreed that, whenever possible, it would restore DNS service, build technical and administrative capacity within Afghanistan, and to shift technical operations to a community-based structure that included many sectors of society.[2]
Rules and Restrictions[edit | edit source]
The registrant shall use the Domain Name in such a way that does not violate any third-party rights, applicable laws, or regulations, including discrimination on the basis of race, language, sex, religion, or political view. The Domain Name must not be used in bad faith or for any unlawful purpose.
Domain name registration is strictly prohibited by any of the following purposes:
- the display of sexually offensive contents;
- spamming activities including the development of tools used to spam, or any software or resources to be used for illegal activities, including viruses and hacking tools;
- any other activity which is illegal under Afghanistan law.
Proper names such as Afghanistan, Kabul, Ahmad and more will not be registered unless approved by AFGNIC authorities.[3]
Second-level Domains[edit | edit source]
- .gov.af: for Afghanistan government agencies;
- .com.af: for Afghanistan commercial entities;
- .org.af: for Afghanistan non-commercial organizations;
- .net.af: for Afghanistan network providers;
- .edu.af: for Afghanistan educational institutions;
- . media.af
- .tv.af: for Afghanistan Television Network.
Characters[edit | edit source]
The following names are not acceptable for registration if:
- they consist of characters other than "a-z", "A-Z", "0-9" and "-", or that start or end with "-";
- they are composed of less than three (3) characters or more than sixty-three (63) characters.
- have "-" on the third and the fourth position.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ IANA: Delegation Record for .AF
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 MEAC DNS Study, ICANN.org. Published 2015 October 13. Retrieved 2015 November 12.
- ↑ AfgNIC: Domain Name Registration Policy