Friday, April 10, 2009
Talibban Flag
For all their qualms about modernity, the Taliban know how to use the Web. Last week, a blogger discovered that a website, Alemarah1.com, belonging to the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” was hosted in the United States. The Houston-based company ThePlanet was unaware that the Taliban was using its Web-hosting services—for a mere $70 a month, payable by credit card—to provide daily updates on battles with U.S. soldiers and the Afghanistan “puppet army.” Once ThePlanet was told what was going on, it pulled the plug on Alemarah1.
Until the U.S. media pointed it out, another Taliban website, Toorabora.com, continued to operate, thanks to Free Web Town, a template service run by Atlanta-based Tulix Systems. The Tora Bora Front site featured regular updates about attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces, as well as interviews with Taliban leaders and commanders in English and the regional languages of Dari and Pashto.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Extremist Web Sites Are Using U.S. Hosts (by Joby Warrick and Candace Rondeaux, Washington Post)
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