.af
Template:Short description Template:Infobox Top level domain .af is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Afghanistan. It is administered by AFGNIC, a service of the UNDP.
HistoryEdit
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
As of 26 August 2020, .af was used by 5960 domains.<ref name="domtools" />
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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
RegistrationEdit
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.
RestrictionsEdit
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Second-level domainsEdit
- .gov.af
- .com.af
- .org.af
- .net.af
- .edu.af
- .tv.af
- .media.af<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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