| |
|
Taliban
Orders Afghan Ban on Access to Internet
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -
The head of Afghanistan's Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, ordered a ban
on Saturday on access to the Internet.
The decree, read on the hardline Islamic group's Radio Shariat, said the only
permitted Internet connection would be in the Office of the Supreme Leader
''to be accessed by a trusted man.''
The decree said government offices that felt they needed access to the Internet
for work purposes could write to Omar's office but added that the ban
would be strictly enforced.
''The office of communications is ordered to find ways to ensure that
use of the internet becomes impossible,'' the decree said. ''The
Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the
religious police) is obliged to monitor the order and punish
violators.''
Most of Afghanistan's infrastructure has been destroyed in more than two decades
of war and there are few telephone lines inside the country and almost
none to the outside world. Most of the many foreign aid organizations providing
basic services to the country depend on satellite telephones.
The Taliban's extreme interpretation of Islam has included bans on television,
radio, music and dancing. This year they destroyed giant statues of
the Buddha, the country's greatest historic treasures, as part of a ban on
all portrayal of animate life. |
