Kabul's cyber cafe culture

In 2001, the Taliban banned use of the Internet by anyone who was not associated with the government. A year later, after the fall of the Taliban, Afghan Wireless Communication Company launched the country's first cyber café at the Kabul Intercontinental. As this article's author explains, enthusiasm for the Internet has continued to grow in that time; there are now 4 internet cafés in Kabul.

For example, on a typical day at the Excelnet Café (launched in December 2002 by Kabul-based businessman Sabir Latifi), all 8 terminals are occupied, while 10 Afghans wait in line. Costs range from $1 to $3 per hour, which is the cheapest of all 4 cafés but nonetheless expensive in a country where the average income is less than $1 a day. Café owner Sabir Latifi hopes to reduce the cost and perhaps even provide free access to students through a centre at Kabul University. Most of those who use Kabul's cyber cafés are young men and women who use the Internet mainly to stay in touch with friends living elsewhere, to find out about opportunities abroad, to study, or to keep connected with happenings around the world. Latifi encourages business owners to use email, start a website, and get in touch with customers directly.

In Latifi's words, "At the moment, to send a message from Kabul to Jalalabad [140 kilometres] you have to actually travel there by road since the phone lines don't work. If you have an internet facility, it'll take five minutes."

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