The head of Afghanistan's ruling Taleban militia today (Saturday) ordered a ban of the Internet and ordered religious police to strictly enforce the edict.
The decree by Mullah Omar Mohammad Omar was broadcast on the Taleban's Radio Shariat.
The ban on the Internet extends to all governmental and non-governmental organizatons, both domestic and international, as well as all individuals. It restrictions will be monitored by religious police, who have been ordered to punish violators.
Reuters reports that the Taleban's office of communications has been ordered to find ways to ensure that access to the Internet is impossible.
Much of Afghanistan's infrastructure has been destroyed in more than two decades of civil war, leaving few telephone lines within the country and almost no links to the outside world. Most foreign relief organizations operating in Afghanistan depend on satellite telephones.
The Taleban's extreme interpretation of the sharia, or Islamic law, includes bans on television, radio, music and dancing.