4 ms·

I know someone who recently bought a new .af domain in cash from the Taliban, in person in Kabul. The ministry of communications which controls it accepts payme

I know someone who recently bought a new .af domain in cash from the Taliban, in person in Kabul. The ministry of communications which controls it accepts payment by depositing cash and getting a bank draft receipt in downtown Kabul. The previous government has definitely stopped existing, but this is the same process as before the August 2021 ghani government collapse. Once you have your bank draft you walk it over to a clerk at the ministry of communications and within a few days somebody will hand edit the .af root zonefile.

arccy 4y ago
it doesn't (or didn't) seem necessary to actually go over there for registrations? https://tld-list.com/tld/af https://tld-list.com/tld/af
- dwild 4y ago
  I just tried on a few: - Gandi : I get "Temporary error" - Regery : Seems to allow it but I don't know how much we can trust that. - OVH : I get "Unavailable" - Netim : "Registrations are currently not possible." I think it's fair to say that it's not that easy...
sonicggg 4y ago
That's interesting. Why won't the Taliban just license it, like other places do? I don't need to go to Tuvalu to buy a .tv domain. I'm guessing embargoes may play a minor role, but China still trades with them.
- walrus01 4y ago
  Even before the government collapse the ministry of comms showed little interest in licensing it to a third party operator for widespread use. They get more revenue from a small customer prepaid credit loading tax on the four LTE/gsm/3gpp band mobile phone operators.
- incone123 4y ago
  Maybe they don't want people using it as an abbreviation for As Fuck. high.af
  - bipson 4y ago
    I don't think that is a real concern for the Taliban. I would rather ask: why would they? Are we expecting Taliban to consider giving out registrations? To foreigners?! What would be their motivation to streamline this in any way at all? Do we assume that they even care?
    - thematrixturtle 4y ago
      The motivation would be money. Lots of people would pay for awesome.af, dope.af etc if it was easy enough to do so.
      - bipson 4y ago
        You're assuming the Taliban think like you
        rozab 4y ago
        I think it's safe to assume the Taliban like US dollars
  - throwaway894345 4y ago
    Didn't the Taliban finance their holy war by selling opium? Seems like they probably aren't the scrupulous type.
    - droopyEyelids 4y ago
      The taliban has generally been against opium and banned the poppy farming again as soon as they took over. Poppy farming financed the other powers, against the taliban.

arccy 4y ago

it doesn't (or didn't) seem necessary to actually go over there for registrations? https://tld-list.com/tld/af https://tld-list.com/tld/af

dwild 4y ago
I just tried on a few: - Gandi : I get "Temporary error" - Regery : Seems to allow it but I don't know how much we can trust that. - OVH : I get "Unavailable" - Netim : "Registrations are currently not possible." I think it's fair to say that it's not that easy...

sonicggg 4y ago

That's interesting. Why won't the Taliban just license it, like other places do? I don't need to go to Tuvalu to buy a .tv domain. I'm guessing embargoes may play a minor role, but China still trades with them.

walrus01 4y ago
Even before the government collapse the ministry of comms showed little interest in licensing it to a third party operator for widespread use. They get more revenue from a small customer prepaid credit loading tax on the four LTE/gsm/3gpp band mobile phone operators.
incone123 4y ago
Maybe they don't want people using it as an abbreviation for As Fuck. high.af
- bipson 4y ago
  I don't think that is a real concern for the Taliban. I would rather ask: why would they? Are we expecting Taliban to consider giving out registrations? To foreigners?! What would be their motivation to streamline this in any way at all? Do we assume that they even care?
  - thematrixturtle 4y ago
    The motivation would be money. Lots of people would pay for awesome.af, dope.af etc if it was easy enough to do so.
    - bipson 4y ago
      You're assuming the Taliban think like you
      - rozab 4y ago
        I think it's safe to assume the Taliban like US dollars
- throwaway894345 4y ago
  Didn't the Taliban finance their holy war by selling opium? Seems like they probably aren't the scrupulous type.
  - droopyEyelids 4y ago
    The taliban has generally been against opium and banned the poppy farming again as soon as they took over. Poppy farming financed the other powers, against the taliban.