Taliban Internet flashback
Charles Cooper Former Executive Editor / News
Charles Cooper was an executive editor at CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years, working at CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet.
Flashback for cyber historians: On this date in 2001, the Taliban banned the use of the Internet.
The Taliban's then foreign minister, Maulvi Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil (remember him?) announced the decision, saying the regime wanted to establish a system "through which we can control all those things that are wrong, obscene, immoral and against Islam."
As it turned out, the announcement was more bark than bite. After more than two decades of fighting, the country didn't have any broadband infrastructure and the only way to log onto the Internet was through the handful of telephone lines provided by Pakistan.