Affordable Internet access has finally made its way to Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, the country, ravaged by 23 years of civil war, received what United Nations information technology workers say is the first inexpensive public Internet service there. In August, five more Kabul post offices will be outfitted with Internet connections, where it costs the equivalent of $1 an hour to check e-mail and surf the Web, said Karen Gray, project manager for the United Nations Development Programme, one of three parties rolling out the service.
"There is so much hunger for information here," Gray said in a telephone interview from Kabul. "We opened the first telekiosk on July 6. We've had them for 3 weeks and we had over 1,000 people visit."
In the developed world, 1,000 people checking their e-mail may not seem like a big deal. But for people in this war-torn nation who, until the ousting of the militant Taliban government in late 2001, were forbidden from owning a computer, it is understandable why the program is generating excitement.
About 22 million people live in Afghanistan, but only 1 percent to 2 percent of the population -- mainly high-level government employees -- have access to a computer, said Ahmad Braish, the information and technology chairman for the Society of Afghan Engineers in Los Angeles. Braish also acts as an IT advisor to the Afghan government.
"A lot of people will get access to the Internet because of e-mail," Braish said. However, only 5 percent to 10 percent of people have access to a telephone system, making it difficult for most people to go online with much frequency.
Afghans are so hungry for information from the outside world, Braish said, that he was only mildly surprised to learn from some Afghan schoolchildren that they preferred to read websites in English rather than have the content translated into their native Dari or Pashto by their instructors. But until now, they never had the opportunity to use a computer, much less the Internet.
Like any other major city in the world, Kabul does have Internet cafes. But for the most part, the service is available only to tourists and wealthy Afghan émigrés who can afford to put down $3 to $5 an hour to peruse the Web. The average Afghan makes about $30 a month, Gray said.
The United Nations and Afghanistan's Ministry of Communications were able to train local Afghans as IT specialists and kick-start the post office Internet program with $300,000 donated by the French government as part of a reconstruction effort.
The Internet service, which piggybacks off of a satellite data connection in the Ministry of Communications' office in central Kabul, connects people cheaply and wirelessly through an 802.11a network. Unlike the popular 802.11b, or Wi-Fi service, offered in many coffee shops, airports and hotels around the world, 802.11a gives users information at an average speed of 11 Mbps -- or almost five times faster than Wi-Fi.
But there are drawbacks to the service: Gray eventually plans to install filtering software to block out websites with content deemed unacceptable by the Afghan government -- like pornography. Also, Afghans already may feel limited in what they can view on the computers since there are always two computer assistants on hand -- a man and a woman -- to monitor the terminals.
The program had to include a computer assistant of each sex because it would go against social norms for a woman to work with a man, Gray said.
"We've had a lot of schoolgirls and women come to learn about computers and how to use the Internet," she said. "We offer them a safe environment to learn."
But for Gray, the biggest barrier to getting Afghans online will be the high demand for available computers. Already, people are lining up and doubling up on computers, forcing IT managers to place half-hour time limits on some terminals. Most people come to the telekiosks to learn basic computer skills, such as how to use a mouse and keyboard, to open up e-mail accounts and to learn how to peruse the Web. While surfing the Web and checking e-mail costs $1 an hour, computer training is free, Gray said.
When asked if her group would extend the program beyond Kabul, Gray's answer was an unequivocal yes.
"We've had such a good response," she said. "If there is a line, we say, 'Set up a time and come back. You'll have your time on the computer.'"
