January 1 – TheAfghan Northern Alliance captured theGhalmin district inGhor province, Afghanistan. SeveralTaliban attempts to recapture the area failed. Retreating Taliban left five dead militants behind. Another 13 Taliban were reportedly wounded.
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan authorities in Afghanistan raised postal rates beyond affordable levels for the majority of ordinary citizens. MullaAbdul Baqi Mukhles, head of the central postal department, said the rise was linked to the steep fall of theafghani and the decisions of the 1999International Postal Union congress in Beijing.
January 2 – InGhor province, Afghanistan, Taliban fighter planes bombed theGhalmin district in support of a two-pronged infantry attack in which two opposition soldiers were wounded and six militiamen killed.
January 3 – Taliban forces pounded opposition positions with heavy artillery initiating a counter-attack to retake theGhalmin district inGhor province, Afghanistan.
Fighting between the Taliban and opposition forces was reported in northeastern Afghanistan near the border withTajikistan.
A meeting held inhead District ofBamyan province, Afghanistan was attended by a large number of the people includingUstad Akbari. Leaders denounced the conspiracies and plots of anti-Islamic states, including the United States and France.
TheUnited Nations announced that the number of its foreign workers returning to Afghanistan had reached 24, and would increase, but not go beyond 34. Less than two weeks earlier, the U.N. had pulled all of its workers from the nation to coincide with sanction activities.
January 4 – A Chinese delegation of the Chinese OFEM company arrived inKabul, Afghanistan to assist theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan with the revival ofhydel power projects. The delegation met with Taliban Minister for Water and PowerMaulvi Ahmed Jan, visitedSarobi Dam and pledged to install new turbine in the power house. The delegates also made commitment about the installation of mobile telephone system in Afghanistan.
The Taliban admit that resistance forces have captured the strategically important town of Bamiyan after heavy fighting.
January 5 – InPatras, Greece, while attempting to board a ship bound for Italy, more than 20IraqiKurds clashed with 15 Afghans. Eight were injured and taken to a hospital for treatment. The rest were arrested by the authorities.
Taliban leader Mohammad Omar decrees that religious conversion from Islam to any other faith will be punishable by death. Omar suggests that outside forces are attempting to undermine the Islamic regime by covertly preaching Christianity and Judaism in the country.
Early January – The UNHCR expresses serious concern for some 10,000Afghan refugees camping on the country's northern border with Tajikistan.
Mid-January – The International Red Cross (ICRC) announces that it will end its relief mission in Kabul, saying that the Afghan capital is no longer adversely affected by the country's civil war. The 20,000 families that have been receiving aid from the ICRC since 1994 will be given their last shipment of cooking oil, rice, soap, and wheat in March.
Mid-January – Supporters of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance reportedly retake the town ofYakawlang after heavy fighting. The UN reports that Taliban forces had killed around 100 civilians when they reentered the town in December 2000 after briefly losing control of it. The UN also says that large numbers of refugees have fled the town despite the severe winter weather.
January 22 – The Taliban regime reveals Afghanistan's revamped air traffic control system, marking the first major improvement in the country's infrastructure for years. The upgrade is likely to increase the amount of air traffic flying over Afghanistan in future.
Late January – 110 internal refugees sheltering in the west of the country die in one night as temperatures drop to −25 °C.
Late January – The UN World Food Program (WFP) warns that the level of malnutrition among children in the north of the country is alarming.
February 14 – The headquarters of the UN Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA) are closed by the Taliban authorities in retaliation for the U.S. government's closure of the Taliban offices in New York.
Mid-February – The UK-based human rights group Amnesty International condemns the apparentlysummary execution of six men by the rebel Northern Alliance.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch produces video evidence of the murder of around 170 men by Taliban forces in December 2000. The footage shows the execution of local men rounded up by Taliban forces reentering the town of Yakawlang, which had been briefly held by rebel forces late in 2000. It also depicts a mass grave at a nearby village.
Late February – In response to allegations of atrocities the Taliban authorities accuse rebel forces of killing 120 civilians during their three-day occupation of Bamiyan earlier in the month.
Taliban leader Mohammad Omar decrees that all statues in the country should be destroyed as they represent an insult to Islam and are being worshipped as false gods. The order leads to the destruction of priceless historic artifacts across the country including the world's tallest statue of an upright Buddha in Bamiyan.
March 2 – The Taliban begins the destruction of theBuddhas of Bamiyan, causing worldwide condemnation.
Despite UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's reassurances in early March that the plight of the hundreds of thousands of internal refugees has not been forgotten by the international community, the UN withholds its aid to refugees stranded on the border with neighbouring Tajikistan later in the month. The suspension comes amid fears that the aid was being subverted by armed groups. Just a day before the announcement Annan urged both sides in the country's civil war to reject further violence.
An article published in March 2001 byJane's suggests that the United States was giving the Northern Alliance information and logistics support as part of concerted action with India,Iran, and Russia against Afghanistan's Taliban regime, withTajikistan andUzbekistan being used as bases.[1]
Early April – formercommunist generalAbdul Rashid Dostum returns from self-exile in Turkey to boost resistance to the Taliban regime. He was forced to flee the country after his stronghold in the north was attacked by Taliban forces in 1998. He meets with his former bitter enemy, the senior commander of anti-Taliban forces,Ahmad Shah Massoud, to discuss plans for a new northern front. Morale among opposition forces is reported to have been boosted by Dostum's return. The meeting is reported to have taken place in thePanjshir valley in the province ofBadakhshan, the only part of Afghanistan under full opposition control.
April 16 – The chair of the Taliban Interim Council, Mohammad Rabbani, dies. He was fighting liver cancer in a hospital in neighbouring Pakistan. His body is repatriated toKandahar by aUN plane, permitted to operate on humanitarian grounds despite the air embargo.
April 17 – The second of five rounds ofpolioimmunizations to be held this year begins after the Taliban and the Afghan Northern Alliance agreed to a week-long ceasefire. The ceasefire enables tens of thousands of staff and volunteers to operate freely to carry out a house-to-house effort to immunize all children under five years of age.
April 18 – TheEuropean Union announces that it has signed a contract with theWorld Food Programme to contribute humanitarian aid worth U.S. $900,000 to Afghanistan.
April 19 – In an effort to find out how western aid is being used, three U.S. officials complete a rare visit to Afghanistan.
April 24 – The UN declares the Afghan people the most displaced in the world. It estimates that there are 700,000 internal refugees in Afghanistan as well as at least 100,000 abroad. Aid workers also voice concern at the health situation in refugee camps and warn of impending epidemics.
Early May – The anti-Taliban alliance claims to have taken control of key settlements in the eastern Kunar province, northeast of Kabul. The Taliban regime denies the claims and counters that its forces have repelled a brief occupation of the central town of Yakawlang, near Bamiyan.
May 17 – The U.S. announces that it will extend a $43 million aid package direct to projects and facilities in Afghanistan, bypassing the Taliban regime. The offer comes amid spiraling fears of impending famine.
May 20 – The Taliban regime closes the UN offices in Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Mazar-e-Sharif in protest over UN sanctions.
Late May – Afghan Hindus are ordered to wear yellow identity labels to differentiate themselves from their Muslim neighbours. Although the Taliban regime claims that the plan is to protect Hindus from persecution by religious police, Hindu groups complain that the labels amount to "patent discrimination."
The Taliban authorities ban female aid workers from driving. Although the edict is unlikely to affect larger aid groups it is feared it may hinder the work of small-scale operations.
June 1 –Taliban forces begin a fresh attack on opposition positions in the centre and the northeastern Takhar province, around Taloqan.
June 6 – An UzbekistaniSukhoi Su-24 bomber is shot down during a raid against Taliban armour near Heiratan, killing the crew.[2][3]
Early June – Taliban leaderMullah Mohammad Omar warns that his regime would consider any UN monitoring of the country's borders as a hostile act.
Mid-June – The anti-Taliban alliance accuses the Islamic regime of systematically destroying the central town of Yakawlang which has repeatedly changed hands between the two warring sides. They say that most of the town's 60,000 residents have now fled.
June 21 – TheUN announces that it will establish large-scale refugee camps in the north of the country to help protect 10,000 displaced Afghans.
June 22 – TheU.S. Department of State issues a "worldwide caution" for U.S. citizens around the world of possibleOsama bin Laden-relatedterrorist attacks. The warning is due to expire or be updated September 22.
July 2 – Taliban Deputy Foreign Minister MullahAbdul Jalil told U.S. Ambassador to PakistanWilliam Milam thatOsama bin Laden had not been "convicted and that the Taliban still consider him innocent."
July 3 – The Taliban regime reacts angrily to the U.S. renewal of trade sanctions. The U.S. authorities cite the regime's apparent protection of Saudi "terrorist"Osama bin Laden.
Mid-July – The Internet is outlawed by the governing Taliban in an effort to prevent the spread of anti-Islamic material. The regime also says it will no longer recognize university qualifications obtained abroad, in particular those from the Afghan University in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Mid-July – A cholera epidemic reportedly kills 45 people in a single day in the northern Balkh province. The area is on the front line between Taliban and opposition forces.
July 30 – The UN Security Council adoptsResolution 1363. The Resolution orders new measures to help enforce the arms embargo on Afghanistan. Under the Resolution, monitors should be stationed in neighbouring countries to ensure the sanctions are upheld.
August 26 – 438 asylum seekers (420 from Afghanistan) were saved from a sinkingIndonesian vessel by theMS Tampa. The captain planned to take the asylum seekers toIndonesia, but the asylum seekers apparently threatened the captain and allegedly said they would jump overboard unless they were taken to Australia, prompting the captain set sail forChristmas Island instead. The Australian government however refused permission for the ship to enter Australia's territorial waters.
August 27 –Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan soldiers enteredIran and seized a border kiosk. Flooded by hundreds of thousands ofAfghan refugees, Iran had started deporting Afghans, accusing many of drug dealing.
August 29 – The captain of theMS Tampa, carrying 438 asylum seekers (420 from Afghanistan), declared a state of emergency and proceeded to enter Australian territorial waters, despite Australian government orders not to. The Australian government responded by dispatching Australian troops to board the ship and prevent it from approaching any further toChristmas Island. The MS Tampa captain was instructed to move the ship back intointernational waters. He refused. The Norwegian government warned the Australian government not to seek to force the ship to return to international waters against the captain's will. The Australian government tried to persuadeIndonesia to accept the asylum seekers; Indonesia refused. The refugees were loaded onto an Australian Navy vessel. Most were transported to the small island country ofNauru and the rest to New Zealand.
The parents of U.S. citizensDayna Curry andHeather Mercer visited their daughters for about 30 minutes accompanied by U.S. diplomatDavid Donahue. Curry, Mercer and six other foreign aid workers (twoGermans and four Australians) withShelter Now International on charges of spreadingChristianity. Eight of the foreign aid workers were transferred late fromKabul's juvenile correction center to an unknown place.
September 2 – 438 asylum seekers (420 from Afghanistan) saved August 26 remained on board theMS Tampa, a Norwegian freighter, stranded in the Indian Ocean. An Australian troop ship was en route to transfer them toPapua New Guinea, where they would be split up and sent to New Zealand and toNauru.Mahmoud Saikal, theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan consul to Australia, praised Naura and New Zealand, and condemned Australia.
TheUnited Nations called for fair trials for all 24 foreign and Afghan aid workers detained by theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The detainees were charged with promoting Christianity.
September 3 – InKabul, Afghanistan, the trial began for eight foreign aid workers, as the nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court held preliminary deliberations. Evidence includedBibles and video and audio tapes, along with investigation files from the religious police.Shelter Now denied its staff were involved in missionary work, however the Taliban claimed to have written confessions from the detainees. The accused wereGeorg Taubmann,Katrin Jelinek,Margrit Stebner andSilke Durrkopf, all German; AustraliansPeter Bunch andDiana Thomas; and U.S. citizensDayna Curry andHeather Mercer.
September 5 – TheIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan denied Western diplomats access to a court where eight foreign aid workers were on trial for promotingChristianity, but Chief JusticeNoor Mohammad Saqib said the defendants could hire foreign lawyers. He also said that the defendants could facehanging. Despite repeated requests, Australian, German and U.S. consuls inKabul had been denied any meetings with Taliban authorities for a week.
September 6 – TheUnited Nations special envoy to Afghanistan,Francesc Vendrell, arrived inKabul, saying the trial of the arrested foreign aid workers would be meaningful only if it is held in an open court. Despite an earlier promise to do so, theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan had not allowed journalists, Western diplomats or relatives of the accused any access to the proceedings.
TheWorld Food Programme announced that Afghanistan was on the brink of famine, and appealed for $151 million to fund an "emergency operation".
The Central Board of Revenue of Pakistan approved zero-rated export ofcement andtobacco leaf to Central Asian Republics and Afghanistan via land route.
September 7 – The trial of eight foreign aid workers detained in Afghanistan on charges of preachingChristianity went into recess for a weekly holiday.
September 8 – Eight foreign aid workers on trial for promotingChristianity in Afghanistan appeared for the first time in the Supreme Court, and said they were innocent of proselytising. The hearing was presided over by Chief JusticeNoor Mohammad Saqib and 18 other judges. One of the six female defendants was wearing the head-to-toe cloak which is mandatory for Afghan women in public, while the others had veils over their hair only. The defendants walked slowly into the court under the escort of armed guards, who did not allow them to answer questions from journalists waiting outside the court. The mother of one of the US prisoners and the father of another accompanied their daughters into the court, but the cousin of the Australian man was kept waiting outside along with Australian, German and US diplomats.
September 9 – Afghan opposition leaderAhmed Shah Massoud was assassinated. Two suicide bombers, posing as journalists, blew themselves up during the purported interview mortally wounding Massoud. The suicide bomber was killed along with one of Massoud's followers, and the Afghan commander's guards reportedly killed the second attacker. The terrorists first conducted interviews with opposition soldiers inShomali before meeting with Massoud. The bomb was either hidden in the camera or camera battery belt of the terrorists. Massoud was evacuated by helicopter toTajikistan where he was announceddead on arrival.
A formalNational Security Presidential Directive submitted on September 9, 2001, had outlined essentially the same war plan that theWhite House, the CIA and thePentagon put into action after the September 11 attacks. The plan dealt with all aspects of a war against al-Qaeda, ranging from diplomatic initiatives to military operations in Afghanistan, including outlines to persuade Afghanistan's Taliban government to turn bin Laden over to the United States, with provisions to use military force if it refused.[4]
The Afghan Supreme Court resumed the trial of eight foreign aid workers held for allegedly preachingChristianity, but no detainees, diplomats or journalists were present.
In Afghanistan, theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan jailed 35 Afghan employees of one of the recently expelled foreign assistance groups.
September 10 – More than 135 Taliban were killed and 75 captured in an attack by opposition forces on Taliban positions inEshkamesh andChal districts ofTakhar province, Afghanistan.
More than 30 Taliban fighters were killed or wounded in theSafid Kotal area of Afghanistan when two trucks carrying them hitlandmines.
TheUnited Nations World Food Programme appealed to international donors for US$150 million to assist the estimated 5.5 million suffering people in Afghanistan.
September 11 –Suicide attacks on the U.S. kill more than 3,000 people and destroy the two towers of theWorld Trade Center and part ofthe Pentagon, using three hijacked passenger airliners as cruise missiles, with a fourth, also hijacked, crashing in a field inPennsylvania. Early speculation about the source of the attack centered onSaudi-bornterrorist leaderOsama bin Laden, who was living in and working from Afghanistan.Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan leaders condemned the attacks and rejected suggestions that Osama bin Laden could be behind them.
Rocket explosions and anti-aircraft fire rockedKabul, Afghanistan. Both the U.S. and Afghan oppositional forces denied involvement.
Tetsu Nakamura, a Japanese doctor, traveled fromPeshawar in Pakistan to Afghanistan to evacuate Japanese health clinic staffers. He stayed inJalalabad for three days, providing medical attention torefugees.
USS Enterprise, on its way home from its deployment, was turned around to joinUSS Carl Vinson in the Fifth Fleet area of operations.
September 13 – In anticipation of U.S. strikes,Muslim militants were reported fleeingKabul, Afghanistan, while other residents were said to be digging trenches around the city.
A British security official said that, if evidence emerges thatSaudi-born exileOsama bin Laden was behind theSeptember 11th attack, an attack on Afghanistan was an option thatNATO was considering. NATO denied the report.
Three Western diplomats, representing eight aid workers on trial for allegedly preachingChristianity, left Afghanistan amid an exodus of foreigners concerned over possible U.S. attacks. Family members of the detainees also left the country. However, the eight aid workers remained in the custody of theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan militia as an Islamic court continued their trial behind closed doors.
TheWorld Food Programme warned that, following exodus of aid workers, about 1.5 million Afghans could emigrate out of Afghanistan in search of food. The U.N. estimated that, to date, Afghanistan had 900,000 internallydisplaced persons and that there were more than three million Afghan refugees inIran and Pakistan alone. Furthermore, the U.N. estimated that a quarter of the population (5.5 million people) would be reliant on food aid if they were to stay alive through November.
Akil Akilov, the prime minister ofTajikistan, said that his nation was not yet prepared to guarantee the United States air space should theBush administration decide to launch retaliatory strikes against suspectedterrorist bases in Afghanistan.
Russian Defense MinisterSergei Ivanov said that Moscow would not allowNATO forces to be stationed in any of the former Soviet republics.
ThePakistan Ulema Council called for ajihad against the United States if they attack Afghanistan. Council vicechairMaulana Naseeruddin organized rallies and "Death to America" conferences around Pakistan.
September 15 –United States Secretary of StateColin Powell said that Pakistan agreed to cooperate if the United States decided to strike Afghanistan.The Washington Post reported Pakistani officials had agreed to allow the United States to use Pakistani airspace in the event of a military strike against Afghanistan, but Pakistan would not involve its forces in any action beyond its own geographical boundaries.
As U.S. presidentGeorge W. Bush met with his national security team atCamp David, he told reporters thatOsama bin Laden was a prime suspect in theSeptember 11th attacks. Bush added that bin Laden was mistaken if he thought he could avoid capture or death.
MullahMohammed Omar issued a call forjihad against the United States and its supporters if they attacked or assisted an attack on Afghanistan. The Taliban also asked all foreigners to leave Afghanistan in view of a possible attack by the United States.
Russian Foreign MinisterIgor Ivanov expressed implicit Russian support for a possible U.S. armed intervention in Afghanistan.
India, which did not share a formal military relationship with the United States, decided to allow its facilities to be used for strikes against Afghanistan. India also provided the United States with intelligence information on training camps of Islamic militants in the region.
September 16 – U.S. presidentGeorge W. Bush told his military to get ready for a longWar on Terrorism, adding that they would smoke the enemies "out of their holes".
TheIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan information minister,Qadratullah Jamal, said that Afghanistan had "fortified our bunkers and our important installations, including military bases and airfields."
Osama bin Laden published a statement to theAfghan Islamic Press that he was not responsible for theSeptember 11th attacks. In the statement bin Laden said "The U.S. is pointing the finger at me but I categorically state that I have not done this."
Afghan Northern Alliance Foreign MinisterAbdullah offered full support to the United States in any operations, including 15,000 of its fighters for any possible strike onOsama bin Laden.
Thousands attended the funeral ofAhmad Shah Massoud, former commander of the Afghan Northern Alliance, who was buried in his home village ofBasarak in thePanjshir Valley of Afghanistan.
A Pakistani newspaper reported thatOsama bin Laden had sneaked out ofKandahar, along with his wives, children and followers and moved to an undisclosed secret location in Afghanistan.
A Russian division of 7,000 men based inTajikistan, which borders Afghanistan, was placed on heightened combat alert. However, Tajikistan announced it would not allow Western nations to launch attacks on Afghanistan from its territory. Tajikistan was struggling to recover from a five-year civil war betweenIslamic opposition forces and a hard-line secular government, and was heavily dependent on Russia for military and political support.
The last of Western aid workers left Afghanistan.
To date, Afghans made up the single biggestrefugee group in the world with more than 2.6 million inexile, mainly in Pakistan andIran.
September 17 – Pakistan placed its army on alert ahead of a possible U.S. attack on Afghanistan.
Iran's supreme leader AyatollahAli Khamenei condemned theSeptember 11th attacks but added that attacking Afghanistan might cause a human catastrophe and could trigger more problems for the United States.
Afghanistan shut down itsairspace, two weeks after threatening to close it if theUnited Nations did not liftsanctions againstAriana Afghan Airlines. Although no flights were landing in Afghanistan, many flights were flying across Afghan airspace. Each time an aircraft flew over Afghanistan the airline had to pay Ariana $400. The money was deposited in accounts inGeneva that were frozen because of the sanctions.
Pakistan's army reported thatIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan troops of between 20,000 and 25,000 had been deployed just across the border from theKhyber Pass. A Pakistani army officer said Pakistan had reinforced its own troops fanned out along the region.
Iran's supreme leaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei advised the United States against a full-scale war in Afghanistan.
TheBBC News reported that Niaz Naik, a formerForeign Secretary of Pakistan, claimed that he had been told by senior American officials in mid-July 2001 that military action against Afghanistan would begin by the middle of October at the latest. The message was conveyed during a meeting on Afghanistan between senior U.S., Russian, Iranian, and Pakistani diplomats. The meeting was the third in a series of meetings on Afghanistan, with the previous meeting having been held in March 2001. During the July 2001 meeting, Naik was told that Washington would launch its military operation from bases inTajikistan – where American advisers were already in place – and that the wider objective was to topple the Taliban regime and install another government in place.[5][6]
Afghan rebel leaderGulbuddin Hekmatyar, from his safe house inIran, condemned the potential attack by the United States on Afghanistan, and threatened to band with other groups to resist it. Hekmatyar said also that he had no reason to disbelieveOsama bin Laden's denial of involvement in theSeptember 11th attacks.
In Afghanistan, a meeting of theshura, a collection of 1,000 village clerics and mullahs, was scheduled to decide the fate ofOsama bin Laden, but the council could not reachKabul in time. The meeting was postponed one day.
Iran Foreign MinisterKamal Kharrazi cautioned against a U.S. military strike on Afghanistan.
The United NationsWorld Food Programme warned that an estimated 3.8 million Afghans, completely dependent on outside aid, had only enough food stocks for two to three weeks.
India announced that Afghanrefugees living in the country would have to register themselves.
TheNational Post reported thatIran sent a message to the United States government via Canada stating it would not oppose targeted military strikes against those responsible for theSeptember 11th attacks.
September 19 – Official beginning of United States' combat activities in Afghanistan, as designated by president George W. Bush in his "Afghanistan Combat Zone Executive Order"[7] on December 12, 2001.
The United States ordered over 100 military aircraft to thePersian Gulf region.
InKabul, Afghanistan, Taliban leader MullahMohammed Omar announced he was ready to hold talks with the United States. He also urged the U.S. to use patience and to gather and turn over evidence to theTaliban Supreme Court. Omar suggested that the U.S. was usingOsama bin Laden as a pretext to topple theIslamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The U.S. government responded by stating it wanted action, not negotiations.
A Pakistani delegation sent toKabul, Afghanistan to convince the Taliban movement to hand overOsama bin Laden also visited the eight detainedShelter Now International workers on trial for spreadingChristianity. The delegation spokesman said the detainees appeared well and in good spirits.
Iran set uprefugee camps on Afghan soil and asked relief organizations to help provide services to the camps. Iran also ordered its troops to seal its border with Afghanistan. Iran also stated that it would not allow the U.S. warplanes to use Iranianair space to attack Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, theshura, a council of 1,000 village clerics and mullahs, issued an edict that called on the Taliban to persuadeOsama bin Laden to leave Afghanistan, but the United States rejected the suggestion.
MullahMohammed Omar appealed toguerrillas inJammu andKashmir to return to Afghanistan to defend against attacks. The shura also warned that any attacks on Afghanistan would cause ajihad.
September 21 –U.S. defense secretaryDonald Rumsfeld suggested that the United States would seek to work with the Afghan Northern Alliance in future operations in Afghanistan.
The Afghan Northern Alliance drove the Taliban out ofDara-i-suf, Afghanistan.
InKarachi, Pakistan, an estimated 40,000 people protested against potential U.S. strikes on Afghanistan. Four protesters were killed and ten police officers were injured. Other protests inPeshawar (10,000 protesters),Quetta (3,000 protesters), andIslamabad (1,500 protesters) occurred without incident.
A crisis meeting ofEuropean Union foreign ministers agreed unanimously to support the right of the United States to attack Afghanistan.
September 22 – Japan's Ministry of Finance announced that payments or fund transfers to accounts in Afghanistan and to Taliban-related individuals living outside Afghanistan needed its permission.
In Afghanistan, an unmanned U.S. spy plane collecting intelligence for theCIA was shot down overSamangan Province by Taliban forces.
U.S. transport planes landed at the military airfield inTuzel,Uzbekistan.
Turkey announced that it would allow U.S. transport planes to use its bases and airspace.
TheUnited States Defense Department called to active duty another 5,000 Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members, bringing the total number of active reservists to more than 10,000.
Scores of Afghan men threw rocks and bricks at the gate of the U.S.embassy, screaming "death to America." The embassy had been abandoned since 1988.
Pakistan foreign ministry spokesmanRiaz Mohammed Khan said his country would keep open diplomatic ties with the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan.
September 25 – During a visit by Japanese Prime MinisterJunichiro Koizumi, when a reporter asked if the United States should helpAfghan people liberate themselves from Taliban rule, presidentGeorge W. Bush said, "We're not into nation-building; we're focused on justice."
September 26 – An article inThe Guardian on September 26, 2001, also adds evidence that there were already signs in the first half of 2001 that Washington was moving to threaten Afghanistan militarily from the north, by way of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. AU.S. Department of Defense official, Dr. Jeffrey Starr, visited Tajikistan in January 2001 and U.S. GeneralTommy Franks visited the country in May 2001, conveying a message from the Bush administration that the US considered Tajikistan "a strategically significant country". However, this assertion overlooks the fact that these relationships had been ongoing since the breakup of the USSR, and that under Clinton similar statements had been made by military officials.U.S. Army Rangers were training special troops insideKyrgyzstan, and there were unconfirmed reports that Tajik and Uzbek special troops were training inAlaska andMontana. Reliable western military sources say a U.S. contingency plan existed on paper by the end of the summer to attack Afghanistan from the north, with U.S. military advisors already in place in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.[8]
9:30 a.m. EDT (approx): The leader of the Northern Alliance says he believes the U.S.-led attack will begin "very soon".
11:30 a.m. EDT (approx):Israel is informed about the upcoming attack.
12:30 p.m. EDT (9 p.m. local time): the United States, supported by Britain, begins its attack on Afghanistan, launching bombs and cruise missiles against Taliban military and communications facilities and suspected terrorist training camps. A Northern Alliance spokesman later tellsCNN that attack hit anti-aircraft batteries nearKabul and "at least three terrorist camps" nearJalalabad. Initial reports are that Kabul,Kandahar, andHerat are among the targets. Electricity in Kabul is almost immediately cut off. A number of different technologies were employed in the strike.U.S. Air Force generalRichard Myers, chairman of the U.S.Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that approximately 50Tomahawkcruise missiles, launched by British and U.S. submarines and ships, 25F/A-18 Hornetstrike aircraft from U.S.aircraft carriers,USS Carl Vinson andUSS Enterprise and 15 U.S. Air Forcebombers, such asB-1 Lancer,B-2 Spirit,B-52 Stratofortress were involved in the first wave, launched fromDiego Garcia. TwoC-17 Globemastertransport jets delivered 37,500 daily rations by airdrop tointernally displaced persons inside Afghanistan on the first day of the attack.
1 p.m. EDT: President Bush makes a televised speech announcing the attack and discussing further US's intentions, including humanitarian aid."On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al Qaeda training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan." ... "We are the friends of almost a billion worldwide who practice theIslamic faith. The United States of America is an enemy of those who aid terrorists and of the barbaric criminals who profane a great religion by committing murder in its name." TheFBI, using the National Alert Network, asks law enforcement agencies across the United States to go to their highest alert status against possible terrorist attacks. The security perimeter around theWhite House is increased. A peace rally of ten to twelve thousand people is held in New York City. They march from Union Square, the central spontaneousSeptember 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack/Memorials and Services site in Manhattan, to Times Square, cheering the police at the beginning of the march. The list of about twelve speakers was cut to three or four by the police, and they were herded at the end into a one-lane-wide "bullpen".The New York Times places their coverage of the march on page B12. By 8 p.m. EDT, there had been three waves of attacks.
8:35 p.m. EDT:BBC News tentatively reports a fourth wave of attacks.
9:45 p.m. EDT: The first reports of casualties.
10 p.m. EDT:Rudy Giuliani in a news conference announces more National Guard and policemen had been assigned to New York City.
October 8 – Protest rallies lead to three casualties in theGaza Strip and one in Pakistan. Palestinian authorities shoot and kill two students, one a 13-year-old. Crowds then ransack Palestinian police buildings. In Pakistan, protests take place inIslamabad,Peshawar,Lahore,Karachi,Quetta, and near theKhyber Pass border crossing. The most violent protests in Pakistan are in Quetta (60 miles from Afghan border), where one person is shot and killed, the central police station,United Nations buildings, and several shops and movie theaters are set on fire and looted, and a police subinspector is kidnapped. Ten thousand students at three universities protest without incident inCairo,Egypt.
12:00 p.m. EDT (approx): Department of Defense officials report a second round of attacks. Electricity in Kabul is again cut off.
1:00 p.m. EDT (approx): The English journalistYvonne Ridley is released by the Taliban and arrived at the Pakistan border.
1:08 p.m. EDT:Donald Rumsfeld andGeneral Myers convene a press briefing. As of midnight, allied forces had struck 31 targets, including early warning radars, ground forces, command and control facilities, airfields and aircraft. "Strikes are continuing as we speak." About 10 bombers and 10 carrier-based jets participated. "We will use some Tomahawk missiles today from ships." No cruise missiles are launched from bombers. Leaflets are dropped that include some symbols and figures.
October 9 – In a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, a United Nations spokeswoman reports that a cruise missile killed four U.N. employees and injured four others in a building several miles east ofKabul. The casualties were Afghans who were security guards in an Afghan Technical Consultancy, the U.N. de-mining agency building. (Afghanistan was, at that time, the most heavily mined nation on the planet.) German ChancellorGerhard Schröder meets with President Bush in Washington, D.C.
October 10 - An uncertain amount of civilians were reported killed on the village of Karam.[9][10][11]
October 11 – 8 p.m. EDT: President Bush holds the first primetime presidential news conference since 1995. He had this message for the Taliban: "If you cough him up and his people today that we'll reconsider what we're doing to your country. You still have a second chance. Just bring him in, and bring his leaders and lieutenants and other thugs and criminals with him."[12]
October 22- The village of Chowkar-Karez is bombed, killing an unknown number of civilians.[13][14]
November 8 – Pakistan, being the only nation that still had diplomatic ties to the Taliban, asked Afghanistan's rulers to close theirconsulate in the city ofKarachi.
Three Japanese warships with several hundred sailors left port for the Indian Ocean. The goal was to provide the U.S.-led forces with non-combat military support. This was Japan's first mission of this kind since World War II.
Prime ministerWim Kok of the Netherlands announced that 1000 soldiers would join the efforts of the war against terrorism.
November 10 – The Taliban and Northern Alliance fighters both claimed that the strategic northern Afghan city ofMazari Sharif was taken by Northern Alliance fighters.
November 12 – Taliban forces abandonKabul ahead of advancing Northern Alliance troops. Iranian forces aligned with the Coalition capture Herat.
November 13 – Northern Alliance fighters take overKabul, the Afghan capital, thereby gaining control of virtually all of northern Afghanistan.
November 25 – Northern Alliance gained control ofKunduz, the last Taliban stronghold in Northern Afghanistan, but only after Pakistani aircraft rescued several thousand Taliban andAl-Qaeda fighters and their military advisers.[15][16] The Taliban then controlled less than 25% of the country, mainly around Kandahar in the south.
U.S.Marines landed in force byhelicopter atCamp Rhino south ofKandahar and began preparing it for fixed wing aircraft. They also occupied the main road between Kandahar and Pakistan.
Forces loyal to bin Laden smuggled weapons intoQala-i-Jangi prison near Mazari Sharif, where they were held after surrendering at Kunduz. They attacked the Northern Alliance guards and storm an armory.U.S. Special Forces call in air attacks. During theBattle of Qala-i-Jangi hundreds of prisoners are killed as well as 40 Alliance fighters and one U.S. CIA operative,Johnny Micheal Spann. Spann becomes the first U.S. and Coalition combat casualty. A young American namedJohn Walker Lindh is found in the midst of the rebellion and extradited to the US on terrorism charges.
Four BritishSpecial Air Service special forces troops were injured inside Afghanistan and evacuated to hospital in Britain although the time and location of their operation was not known.
December 3 – News reports state that Australian, British, French, German and Russian special forces are on the ground in Afghanistan in addition to U.S. special forces and marines.
Taliban deputy interior minister, and "highest ranking Taliban defector to date".[17]According to Peterson this defector described the American bombardment as very effective, "Kabul city has seen many rockets, but this was a different thing" and "the American bombing of Taliban trenches, cars, and troops caused us to be defeated. All ways were blocked, so there was no way to carry food or ammunition to the front. All trenches of the Taliban were destroyed, and many people were killed."
December 6 – Mullah Omar began to signal that he was ready to surrender Kandahar to tribal forces. His forces were by now broken by heavy U.S. bombing, and he was living constantly on the run within Kandahar to avoid becoming a target. Recognizing that he could not hold on to Kandahar much longer, he began signaling a willingness in negotiations to turn the city over to the tribal leaders, assuming that he and his top men received some protection.
December 18 – According to a December 18, 2001, article published inThe New York Times, the US and Northern Alliance had started to diverge over the American aerial policy.[18]
"They have got their own program. Last night, they even bombed us. The Americans are going to be restless until Osama is really killed or somebody gives them a document that Osama has been killed."
The article quoted a senior American military official, who stated:[18]
"Look, theseEastern Shura are basically a group of village leaders. So if the al Qaeda in their area have been driven off, and the caves and tunnels around their areas are now safe again to go in, the battle is basically over from their point of view.
"But we want to get a lot of those guys who are now fleeing and trying to get away. We want to get bin Laden. So, yeah, we've got different objectives right now."
U.S. and Northern Alliance forces are aided by so-calledEastern Alliance of ethnic Pashtuns in driving the Taliban from control of all areas of Afghanistan. U.S. attacks target al-Qaeda strongholds inTora Bora near the Pakistan border. Many al-Qaeda are taken prisoner by U.S, Pakistan and the new UN-approved interim government of Afghanistan. UN peacekeepers move into Afghanistan.
Professor Professor Marc W. Herold of theUniversity of New Hampshire estimated that the civilian death toll in the first two months of the war could have been as high as 3,767.[20]
^Scott Peterson (December 4, 2001). "A view from behind the lines in the US air war: Special operatives are key to the success of American airstrikes in Afghanistan".The Christian Science Monitor.
^abMichael R. Gordon (December 18, 2001). "As Afghan war winds down, allies are split: Anti-Taliban forces want territory, but U.S. is focused on bin Laden".The New York Times.
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