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    • .af

    Country-code top-level domainsDNSSEC

    Overview

    .af is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Afghanistan. It is administered by AFGNIC and sponsored by the Afghan Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Registrations are available directly at the second level or at the third level beneath several categorized second-level domains.

    History

    • Introduced (delegated) on 16 October 1997.
    • Initial administrative contact was Abdul Razeeq; NetNames of London provided technical maintenance early on.
    • The domain experienced interruptions when the initial administrative contact disappeared; NetNames and IANA continued DNS resolution during that period.
    • In 2002–2003 the registry operation was reorganized: IANA approved redelegation to the Afghan Ministry of Communications, and in March 2003 the domain was reopened as a joint program between UNDP and the Ministry.
    • As of 26 August 2020, there were 5,960 registered .af domains.
    • Following the fall of Kabul in 2021, control of the .af domain again came under the Taliban; ICANN stated it defers decision-making to within the country.
    • ICANNWiki notes that the official registry website listed by IANA was a dead link as of January 2025.

    Usage and Audience

    • Intended for entities connected with Afghanistan; actual use is primarily within Afghanistan and by organizations linked to the country.
    • Early Internet presence in Afghanistan consisted mainly of international organizations and NGOs based in Kabul.
    • Both domestic and international registrants use .af, with higher fees applied to international registrations.

    Registration Rules

    • Registration levels:

      • Second-level registrations: allowed and unrestricted, but more expensive.
      • Third-level registrations: available beneath categorized second-level domains and subject to restrictions depending on the second-level domain.

    • Common second-level domains:

      • .gov.af — Afghanistan government agencies
      • .com.af — commercial entities
      • .org.af — non-commercial organizations
      • .net.af — network providers
      • .edu.af — educational institutions
      • .tv.af — television/network
      • .media.af

    • Character and length rules:

      • Allowed characters: letters (a-z, A-Z), digits (0-9), and hyphen (-).
      • Names cannot start or end with a hyphen.
      • Names must be between 3 and 63 characters long.
      • Names must not have a hyphen in both the third and fourth positions.

    • Prohibited uses and content:

      • Domain use that violates third-party rights, applicable laws, or regulations.
      • Display of sexually offensive content.
      • Spamming activities, development or distribution of malware, hacking tools, or other illegal resources.
      • Any other activity illegal under Afghan law.

    • Special name restrictions:

      • Proper names such as "Afghanistan", "Kabul", "Ahmad", and similar require approval from AFGNIC authorities before registration.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • In February 2024 several .af domains including "broke.af" and "queer.af" were taken offline; the Afghan Ministry of Communications and IT attributed the suspension to a payment dispute involving the registrar Gandi.
    • Control and administration of the .af zone have been affected by major political events in Afghanistan (notably the 2001–2003 transition period and the 2021 fall of Kabul), with international bodies such as ICANN deferring to in-country authorities on governance decisions.

    Operator

    Ministry of Communications and IT

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       AF

organisation: Ministry of Communications and IT
address:      Mohammad Jan Khan Watt
address:      Kabul 26000
address:      Afghanistan

contact:      administrative
name:         General Manager .AF
organisation: Ministry of Communications and IT
address:      Mohammad Jan Khan Watt
address:      Kabul 26000
address:      Afghanistan
phone:        +93 70 6604794
e-mail:       registry@nic.af

contact:      technical
name:         General Manager .AF
organisation: Ministry of Communications and IT
address:      Mohammad Jan Khan Watt
address:      Kabul 26000
address:      Afghanistan
phone:        +93 70 6604794
e-mail:       registry@nic.af

nserver:      NS.ANYCAST.NIC.AF 2001:500:14:6013:ad:0:0:1 204.61.216.13
nserver:      NS1.ANYCASTDNS.CZ 185.38.108.108 2a00:fea0:dead:0:0:0:0:beef
nserver:      NS2.ANYCASTDNS.CZ 185.28.194.194
ds-rdata:     3691 8 2 56c77864a2cd726f252634c8804a2af33ea2ce70c49091e08c223bd2bb33cf5c

whois:        whois.nic.af

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.nic.af

created:      1997-10-16
changed:      2022-11-21
source:       IANA

    Registrars