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U.S. troops raided the compound ofHaji Ghalib, the chief of security forGhanikhel District ofNangarhar Province, arresting him and two others and seizing heavy weapons. Ghalib's son,Mohammed Shafiq, said the U.S. forces also seized missiles, mortars and a large quantity of anti-tank mines during the arrest. The two people detained along with Ghalib were not identified.
Gunmen killedSher Nawaz Khan, a Pakistani intelligence official, in a border area near Afghanistan. Kahn was riding a motorbike to work in the border town ofWana, 180 miles (290 km) south ofPeshawar. The gunmen followed Khan in a car then shot him repeatedly after knocking him off the motorbike.
The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) pledged a $50 million line of credit in support of U.S. private sector investment in Afghanistan. This was in addition to the $50 million OPIC line of credit that theBush administration announced January 2002. One project will be the construction of a five-star international hotel inKabul to be managed byHyatt International, to which OPIC anticipates providing $35 million in financing andpolitical risk insurance. OPIC will also provide political risk insurance to enable a U.S. manufacturer to donate a compressed earth block machine for the construction of three schools, at least one of which will be for girls.
Afghanistan is declared the world's leading producer ofheroin.[2]
March 5:
U.S. and Italian military officials announced that about 500 Italian troops would soon replace a similar number of U.S. soldiers deployed in eastern Afghanistan's Khost region. About 1,000 Italian soldiers fromTask Force Nibbio had already arrived atBagram Air Base. Officials said that 500 Italians will stay at Bagram and the remaining 500 were to take over in mid-March from Americans atCamp Salerno, a coalition base near the eastern town ofKhost. To date 8,000 of the 13,000 coalition forces were from the U.S..
March 6: A preferential trade agreement was signed in a ceremony inNew Delhi,India attended by President Karzai and Indian Prime MinisterAtal Behari Vajpayee. The trade pact will enable free movement of goods specified by the two countries at lower tariffs. The volume of trade between the two countries in 2001-02 totaled $41.89 million. Vajpayee also announced a $70 million grant to rebuild a major road in Afghanistan. Included in the pledge was the third of three 232-seatAirbus 300-B4s to help rebuildAriana Afghan Airlines.
March 7:
During his 3-day visit of India, President Karzai told a business meeting inDelhi that he hoped India would join an oil pipeline project to ship gas from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan and Pakistan. Later, Mr Karzai flew to the Himalayan town ofShimla, India to pick up an honorary doctorate in literature from his alma mater. Mr. Karzai took a postgraduate course in political science atHimachal University from 1979 to 1983.
TheRepublic of Macedonia sent 10 soldiers to be stationed, under German command, in the Kabul.
March 8: The first Afghan radio station programmed solely for women began broadcasting in Kabul. The first broadcast was called "The Voice of Afghan Women." DirectorJamila Mujahed said one-hour radio programs would be broadcast every afternoon in the localPashtu andDari languages in Kabul on 91.6 FM.[4]
March 9: President Karzai said that he hoped war inIraq could be avoided. But he also said the Iraqi people deserved to choose their own government.
March 10:
Afghanistan officially activated its .af Internet domain name on for Afghan e-mail addresses and Web sites.[5]
TheNational Democratic Front was officially launched during a ceremony at a Kabul hotel. Its purpose was to foster Western-style democracy and act as a counterweight to Islamic fundamentalism.
March 11:
PresidentGeorge W. Bush apologized to President Karzai for the way Karzai was treated by a U.S. Senate committee on February 26.[6]
A delegation of Afghan legal officials and experts gathered inWashington, D.C., completed a four-day conference managed byInternational Resources Group and hosted by theU.S. Institute of Peace. The participants worked by consensus to lay out the future of the justice system in Afghanistan.
March 12:
The UNHCR began repatriating thousands of Afghan refugees from around 200 camps in Pakistan. The goal was to repatriate 600,000 refugees by year's end.
In Kabul, Russian Foreign MinisterIgor Ivanov met with President Karzai, Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah and Defense MinisterMohammed Fahim.
TheWorld Bank announced a $108 million, 40-year no-interest loan to Afghanistan. The money was to be spent on repairing disintegrating roads, collapsed bridges, damaged tunnels and the runway atKabul airport.
TheUnited States Agency for International Development announced a new $60 million program to rehabilitate Afghanistan's school system. The money was slated for the printing of 10 million textbooks inDari andPashtu languages. The money was also earmarked for the construction or reconstruction of about 1,200 primary schools in every province.
Agha Murtaza Pooya, deputy head of the PakistanAwami Tehreek, told thePashto language service ofIranian Radio that Osama bin Laden was in custody but he did not know where he was being held. The governments of Pakistan and the U.S. denied the reports.
March 13: President Karzai called for increased aid to Afghanistan; he announced that the $4.5 billion estimated in 2002 would not be sufficient, and his government estimated that funds ranging from $15–$20 billion would be required to rebuild the Afghani economy.[7]
March 14: Six Afghan agencies signed an agreement with the U.N. Mine Action Program for Afghanistan to share US$7.5 million of U.S. aid to clear land mines along roads and at school construction sites. The project was to be completed by the end of 2003.
The first two brigades of the Afghan national army completed 10 weeks of training. To date, around 2,000 soldiers are said to have been trained so far, while thousands of other Afghans carry arms, and local warlords remain powerful figures. To date, attempts to form a national force were hampered by a lack of non-partisan volunteers, and divisions over how much representation different ethnic factions would have.
March 16: Afghanistan granted the release of all Pakistani prisoners (almost 1,000) held in its jails. No date was given for the release of the prisoners, mainly held inSherberghan. Less than a week later, the number of prisoners to be released was reduced to 72.
InBrussels, theEuropean Union pledged €400 million (US$432 million) in financial aid to rebuild Afghanistan until the end of 2004. Canada pledged $250 million to Afghanistan for the same time frame.
An agreement between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UNHCR is scheduled to be signed inGeneva the repatriation of 600,000 Afghan refugees from Pakistan.
Afghanistan's government signed a repatriation agreement inThe Hague with the Netherlands, which at the time hosted about 40,000 Afghan refugees.
March 19:
About two-hundred troopsU.S. 82nd Airborne Division, led by a battalion of 800 known as the "White Devils", were ferried by helicopters into the Sami Ghar mountains, about 100 kilometers (62 mi) east ofKandahar, initiatingOperation Valiant Strike. The objective was to locateOsama bin Laden and members ofal Qaeda. The U.S. troops were accompanied byRomanian infantry.
Expected to replace the 1343 lunar year constitution, a tentative draft of a new Afghan constitution, called "the new constitution for the new Afghanistan", was completed. National unity, ensuring social justice and establishing democracy were stressed and any discrimination in ethnic, racial, religious and linguistic sensitivities would be banned.
6 U.S. soldiers are killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan during a medical mission.[8]
March 20:
All U.N. offices and embassies in Afghanistan were closed amid security concerns after the U.S. initiated its war against Iraq. Domestic flights continued, but international flights into Afghanistan were canceled. In Kabul, police stopped and searched most vehicles at major intersections causing mile-long traffic tie-ups. Coalition soldiers maintained a heavy presence onChicken Street, a popular tourist destination for Westerners.
The U.S.-backed Afghan government called for a quick end to the war inIraq, saying PresidentSaddam Hussein should leave Iraq. The statement read: "We want the people of Iraq to be free from despotism...It is in the interest of the Iraqi people for Saddam Hussein to leave power. The interests of the people of Iraq are higher than the interests of Saddam Hussein and his family...We want a united Iraq, with a government representing its people for peace and stability in the region and world."
the United States liberated 18 Afghans being held atGuantanamo base. The prisoners were released inKabul, Afghanistan, without compensation or any assistance to return home.[9]
March 22:
President Karzai delayed a four-day visit to Pakistan due to the Iraq War.[10]
The school year in most of Afghanistan officially started, but schools were closed because of a holiday for the Afghan New Year. Education MinisterYunus Qanooni said 5.8 million students would go to school, up from 3.3 million the year before. TheUnited Nations had a more conservative estimate of about 4.5 million. Many villages set up informal schools in mosque courtyards, tents and private homes because they never had schools in the first place or the buildings were destroyed.
March 23:
About 1,000 people inMehtar Lam, Afghanistan demonstrated against the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
A mediation team, consisting of United Nations officials and military officials from key northern factions, was dispatched toLatti, Afghanistan to stem fighting betweenAbdul Rashid Dostum andAtta Mohammed.
March 24:
In reaction to questions raised byAhmed Shah Behzad at the opening ceremonies of human rights commission on March 19, the governor Herat,Ismail Khan, expelled the Behzad from the province. Most journalists in Herat protested the move and went on strike to also demand more press freedom in the province.
Afghanistan marked WorldTuberculosis Day with a ceremony inKabul. To date, Afghanistan had one of the highest incidences of the disease in the world, killing 23,000 a year.
March 25:
In Afghanistan, a group of U.S.-led forces (dubbedTask Force Devil) participating inOperation Valiant Strike captured four suspected rebels and seizing a major weapons cache. The cache included electronic detonators, timers, dozens of mortar and rocket-propelled grenade rounds and land mines.
InJalalabad, more than 2,000 university students protesting the U.S.-led war on Iraq clashed with the security forces. Seven students were lightly injured. The confrontation began when students tried to remove barricades set up to prevent them from blocking the main Jalalabad-Kabul highway. Some students threw stones on two vehicles carrying U.S. special forces on the highway.
Around 20 Canadian troops left for Afghanistan to pave the way for Canadian troops to join the U.N. peacekeeping forceInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
BearingPoint announced it had been awarded a three-year, $39.9 million contract from theUnited States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help Afghanistan implement policy and institutional reform measures that will lead to an improved environment for economic development. The agreement includes an option for another two years, for a total award of $64.1 million.
Japan donated about US$20 million to Afghanistan. One source claimed the money was meant to help rebuild its transportation infrastructure, including buying new ambulances and buses. TheJapan Times claimed the money was meant to create jobs, to promote education, and to create a constitution.
March 27: On the dirt road to Kandahar,Ricardo Munguia, anInternational Committee of the Red Cross water engineer, was fatally shot by gunmen, prompting the humanitarian aid agency to suspend operations across Afghanistan. After intercepting two Red Cross vehicles, the gunmen shot Muguia in the head, burned one car and warned two Afghans accompanying him not to work for foreigners.Abdul Salaam, a witness, alleged that Taliban leader MullahDadullah gave the gunmen their orders viamobile phone.
At least 11 people were killed and 2,000 were affected by floods which damaged hundreds of homes inKunduz Province. The district ofKhanabad and the major city ofMazari Sharif were affected the greatest. U.N. aid agencies, along with local and national governments mobilized to provide food, plastic sheeting, blankets and other emergency assistance.
Despite President Karzai previously ordered that there would be no zones in Afghanistan, deputy defence minister GeneralAbdul Rashid Dostum created an office for theNorth Zone of Afghanistan. Disobeying Karzai's order, Dostum appointed the following officials to the North Zone: Lt-GenMohammad Daud Azizi and Lt-GenMajid Rozi as deputies of the Control and Management; Lt-GenMohammad Shahzada as head of the departments of the Control and Management; Lt-Gen Esmatollah as general head of operations of the Control and Management.
March 28:
TheUnited Nations Security Council voted unanimously to extend the U.N. assistance mission in Afghanistan for another year, enough time to see the country through to general elections.[11]
Claiming to be somewhere in Afghanistan, senior Taliban military commander MullahDadullah told theBBC that the Taliban hoped to regain power in Afghanistan, utilizing popular support. Dadullah said that the Taliban had regrouped under the leadership of MullahMohammed Omar and were attacking U.S.-led coalition troops with renewed vigour and ferocity. He added that the Taliban would fight until "Jews andChristians, all foreigncrusaders" were expelled from Afghanistan. According to Dadullah,al-Qaeda no longer existed in Afghanistan and that he did not know the fate or whereabouts ofOsama bin Laden.[12]
TheAsian Development Bank forwarded a draft proposal to Pakistan,Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan regarding India's participation in a proposed 1,300 km Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan natural gas pipeline project. The draft was subject to approval of all parties.
March 29:
Anearthquake of 5.5 magnitude rattled parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The quake, which was centered about 60 miles north ofPeshawar, was felt inKabul for about 30 seconds.
Afghanistan's government set up a special bank account to channel money forhumanitarian aid toIraq and urged wealthy Afghans to contribute to it. Money from the account, which was opened at the central bank inKabul, would be delivered to the Iraqi people later by the U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan,Lakhdar Brahimi.
March 30:
The draft of a proposed constitution was presented to President Karzai.[13]
March 31:
After fierce fighting during a joint operation with U.S.-led coalition forces in central Afghanistan'sOruzgan Province, Afghan government troops capturedMulla Ahdul Razaq, minister of commerce of the former Taliban regime.
The participation by NorwegianF-16 fighters in the U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan came to its scheduled end.
Pakistan closedKatcha Garhi, one of its oldest Afghan refugee camps, uprooting about 60,000 refugees.[14]
April 1: Speaking on Afghan television, the Information and Culture Minister,Makhdum Rahin, said that the country was making progress in encouraging an independent media. He also encouraged Afghanistan's young journalists to criticize the government and himself personally, when mistakes were made.
InIslamabad,Shaukat Aziz announced that Pakistan would actively participate in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and undertake various development projects for the welfare of its people. Aziz said that a Pakistani private construction company has obtained a 25 million U.S. dollar contract to build a road link fromChaman toKandahar and a 30 million US dollar sub-contract in other reconstruction projects.
April 2: A deminer from U.S. military contractorRonco lost his right foot after stepping on a mine near theBagram base.
Afghan forces mounted an operation nearSpinboldak against 50 to 60 suspected terrorists. Two government soldiers were killed and one wounded in the fighting. Seven suspected terrorists were captured.
April 3:
The UN extended a ban on travel for its staff in southern Afghanistan to give local authorities time to improve security in the area where a foreign aid worker was murdered a week earlier.
TheU.N. special investigator forhuman rights in Afghanistan,Kamal Hossain, told theUnited Nations Human Rights Commission meeting inGeneva that insufficient funding for Afghanistan could jeopardize the development of such groups as the army and police, which are important to ensure stability. He added that the absence of enough security forces would embolden warlords around the country to harass different ethnic tribes and to roll back educational opportunities for women and girls. To date, Afghanistan had received almost $2 billion out the $4.5 billion pledged by the international community.
The humanitarian projects board of the U.S.-led coalition approved 19 assistance and reconstruction projects valued at $722,000. The projects included water improvement and the construction of medical clinics and schools in 10 provinces.
Afghan militia soldiers (number about 250) and U.S.-led coalition plane-strikes killed eight suspectedTaliban fighters in theTor Ghar mountains nearSpinboldak. One Afghan militia member was killed and three others were injured. Fifteen suspects were taken into custody. In the cleanup the soldiers found and confiscated light machine guns, bomb-making materials, improvised explosive devices, two trucks, two motorcycles and ammunition. More than 35,000 pounds of ordnance were dropped or fired from five types of aircraft — Harrier jets, B-1 bombers, A-10 Thunderbolts and helicopter gunships — on the rebel positions.[15]
Haji Gilani and his nephew were killed outside their home inDeh Rawood by six gunmen. According to witnesses, one of the gunmen wasMardan Khan, whose brother was a Taliban commander, but no arrests were made.[16]
April 4: An Afghan agricultural department official Aibak announced that an international aid organization had sent experts toSamangan province to train hundreds of people in anti-locust measures and had supplied spraying equipment to eliminate the pest. Locusts were threatening the region's crops for a second year running.
April 5:Kandahar GovernorGul Agha Sherzai gave Taliban loyalists in his province 48 hours to leave Afghanistan. The warning came hours after his soldiers killed two Taliban fighters and captured seven others with bombs and ammunition near the town ofSpinboldak.
Afghan officials announced their forces had killed more than 50 suspectedTaliban rebels in fighting inBadghis province, and captured MullahBadar andJuma Khan.
April 6: Officials announced aU.N.-sponsored program to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate an estimated 100,000 fighters across Afghanistan over the next three years, starting in July. Former fighters would be provided with vocational training, employment opportunities and access to credit. Others would be given the chance to apply for positions in the national army. Funded by Japan, Canada, Britain and the U.S., the program has a three-year budget of $157 million.
TheUnited Nations removed a ban on the movement of U.N. personnel in southern Afghanistan, however theInternational Committee of the Red Cross, with 150 foreign workers in Afghanistan, suspended operations indefinitely. The U.N. ban had been imposed ten days earlier whenRicardo Munguia, of the International Committee of the Red Cross, was pulled out of his car and shot dead.
TheUnited Nations Children's Fund warned that millions of Afghan women and children continued to face major health and nutrition problems, with maternal and infant mortality in Afghanistan among the worst in the world. To day, Afghanistan's infant mortality rate was 165 per 1,000 live births, and its maternal mortality ratio was 1,600 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. In its report, UNICEF also said it had received 65 percent of its $35 million budget for Afghan programs in 2003 and called on donors to fill the shortage.
Nearly 50 suspectedTaliban fighters attacked an Afghan government checkpost in theShingai district of Zabul province. Three Afghan government troops were wounded. The fighters fled after a brief gun battle, but government troops captured 20 of them a day later during raids on several villages in the region.
April 8: U.S. soldiers began a house-to-house for suspected Taliban in theSangeen, Helmand province. The search focused on locating MullahDadullah and MullahAkhtar Mohammed. Both had been reported in the area only a few weeks prior.
April 9: Eleven Afghans were killed and one wounded when a stray U.S. laser-guided bomb hit a house on the outskirts ofShkin in Paktika province. The bomb was fired by U.S. Marine CorpsAV-8 Harrier II air support that had been summoned by coalition forces in pursuit of two groups of five to 10 enemy personnel. The enemy attackers had attacked an Afghan military post checkpoint, wounding four government soldiers.Amnesty International promptly called for an investigation.[17][18]
April 11: On a one-day visit fromDoha,Qatar, Head of the U.S. Central Command GeneralTommy Franks visited the U.S. military headquarters atBagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Franks then traveled toKabul to meet President Karzai and the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
April 12: A taxi packed with explosives exploded inKarwan Sarui, four miles east ofKhost, killing four people who apparently were planning a terrorist attack. Two of the killed were unidentified Pakistani nationals a third was fromYemen. The fourth, the driver, was identified asBacha Malkhui in one report andZarat Khan in another report, a former intelligence officer for the deposedTaliban government. The blast destroyed a two-story home and injured a nearby woman.
TheInternational Committee of the Red Cross announced it had resumed most of its operations in Afghanistan after a two-week suspension following the murder ofRicardo Munguia. However, travel for ICRC employees outside many major cities remained off-limits, and, in remote areas considered insecure, some programs were postponed indefinitely or canceled. As a consequence of the heightened dangers, the ICRC also announced that it would its permanent expatriate staff in Afghanistan by about 25 people, to around 120. To date, the ICRC employed 1,500 Afghans.
April 13:Mohammed Sharif Sherzai, a brother ofGul Agha Sherzai, the governor ofKandahar province, escaped unhurt from an assault by gunmen onmotorcycles near the Pakistani border town ofChaman. However, a cousin and another relative,Qasim Khan, were killed and two Afghan guards were wounded. The gunmen escaped. Afghan border officials accused Pakistan of involvement.
Afghan authorities brokered a cease-fire between theHezb-e-Wahadat andHarakat-e-Islami parties in the town ofSurk Deh inSamangan province. The fighting began April 10 and resulted in at least five deaths, including four civilians, one of whom was a 6-year-old child.
April 14:Pamphlets distributed inAfghan refugee camps in Pakistan urged Afghans to revolt against the U.S. and the government of President Karzai.
April 15: While driving toMazari Sharif, Afghan Commander Shahi and two of his bodyguards were killed in an ambush in theChar Bolak area. Shahi had served for more than 15 years as a commander for GeneralAbdul Rashid Dostum. The assailants were not caught, but it was alleged that they were members of theJamiat-e-Islami group led byUstad Atta Mohammad.
April 16:NATO agreed to take command in August of theInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The decision came at the request of Germany and the Netherlands, the two nations leading ISAF at the time of the agreement. It was approved unanimously by all 19 NATO ambassadors. This marked first time in NATO's history that it took charge of a mission outside the north Atlantic area. Canada had originally been slated to take over ISAF in August.
A blast damaged theUNICEF office inJalalabad, but there were no casualties. The office was empty at the time. Security commanderHaji Ajab Shah said the explosion appeared to have been caused by an improvised explosive device made from automatic rifle bullets.
Over 100 Afghan and U.S. soldiers crossed into Pakistan along theDurand Line allegedly without realizing it to conduct a survey to supply water to tribesmen. They had been invited by a local tribal leader, but were forced to leave the area after Pakistan forces challenged them. Coalition forces claimed that no direct firing took place, but machine gun firing took place. Hundreds of troops were then deployed by Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghan forces moved tanks, heavy weaponry and reinforcements to the area.
April 17: Afghan border forces clashed with alleged Pakistan militiamen who intruded into border village ofGulam Khan, south of the town ofKhost. However, Pakistani officials denied that any of their militia had crossed the border, saying Afghan soldiers had merely traded fire with tribesmen living in the border region.
DuringOperation Carpathian Lightning, over two days,Romanian troops found three caches of weapons in two caves near the town ofQalat, Zabul Province. The caches included 3,000 107mm rockets, 250,000 rounds of 12.7mm machinegun ammunition, about 1,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition and other ammunition and mines.
April 18: Dana Rohrabacher, a senior member of the U.S. Congress foreign relations committee, met with rival faction leadersAbdul Rashid Dostum andUstad Atta Mohammad inMazari Sharif. After the meeting, Rohrabacher told the media that, if bloody ethnic feuds were to be resolved in Afghanistan, regional autonomy was essential.
At least five people died from powerful floods that washed away houses in the Sha Gho valley of Helmand province, on the Shomali plain just north of Kabul. 25 others were missing, three of these children. 200 families were evacuated by helicopter due to flood waters.[19]
April 19: The UN announced that it would not investigate two mass graves in Afghanistan containing hundreds of war victims unless international troops protect the operation. The graves may containTaliban prisoners killed in theDasht-i-Leili massacre of 2001 and victims of theJaghalkani-i-Takhta Pul massacres of 1998.
April 20: An emergency meeting was held in Kabul at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development withU.N.agencies and NGOs for the coordination of relief efforts for the 200 families displaced by flooding on April 18.
In Afghanistan, a two-day national military meeting, that brought together regional commanders, government leaders and commanders of U.S.-led forces for the first time, came to a close.
Afghan authorities announced that they had arrested five men on suspicion of murdering four foreign journalists atTangi Abrishum on November 19, 2001.
The Pakistan government announced that it had released 50Afghan prisoners as a gesture of goodwill, a day before President Karzai was to arrive for meetings.
The cabinet of President Karzai approved a law allowing cable television networks inKabul to resume broadcasting programs. Cable broadcasts had been banned by the supreme court Chief JusticeMawlavi Fazl Hadi Shinwariearlier in the year for being obscene and un-Islamic.
In a southern Afghan raid aimed at catching those responsible for the March 27 murder ofRicardo Munguia, U.S. special forces killing one man and detained seven others. Weapons were also seized by the U.S. forces.
April 22: The highest ranking Afghan officials, including President Karzai arrivedIslamabad, Pakistan to discuss border disputes, terrorism, trade, and exchanges of prisoners. Tensions between the two nations had recently flared up along the ill-definedDurand line, each side accusing the other of intrusion. Many in the Afghan government still viewed Pakistan, which nurtured and supported theTaliban regime, with suspicion. Accusations had been made that Pakistan was harboring Taliban fugitives. Pakistan had concerns about Afghanistan's failure to fulfil promises in March to release up to 800 Pakistani prisoners. In the course of the day, Karzai met separately with Pakistani Prime MinisterZafarullah Jamali and PresidentPervez Musharraf.
April 23: After a meeting inIslamabad, between Afghan Foreign MinisterAbdullah and Pakistani Foreign MinisterKhurshid Mahmud Kasuri, the two nations announced an agreement to hold political consultations twice a year in Islamabad and Kabul alternatively. The purpose of the meetings was to monitor progress in the promotion of bilateral cooperation and to take follow-up actions.
During a joint meeting between Pakistani and Afghan Ministers at the finance ministry inIslamabad, Pakistan Finance ministerShaukat Aziz offered Afghanistan the chance to establish a free industrial zone near theTorkhum andChaman border. Afghanistan identified over 3,000 projects and invited the private sector to invest in them.
The U.S. military reported that "a handful" of the Afghan war prisoners held at Camp X-Ray in Guantánamo Bay, had been identified as juveniles and were separated from the adult prisoners.[20]
Using rockets and automatic weapons, rebel fighters attacked a government office inChapan in Zabul province. Two Afghan soldiers and three assailants were killed in the four-hour shootout.Taliban forces seized the headquarters of theDeh-i-Chopan district of the province, capturing its officials, includingMohammad Nawab. Government forces then retook the district.
Yunis Qanuni, the Afghan Minister of Education, appealed for donors to provide more funds for schools. To date, the ministry had received US$86 million in 2003, leaving the budget short US$114 million.
April 25: AtShkin, in Paktika province, near the Pakistani border, two U.S. soldiers were killed and several other U.S. and Afghan soldiers were wounded in a clash with unknown attackers. The U.S. estimated that at least three of the attackers were killed. Two F-16 Fighting Falcons, twoUSAF A-10 Thunderbolt tankbusters and two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters responded. Two days later, two rebel corpses were discovered near the site. One of the U.S. soldiers killed was identified asAirman first class Raymond Losano and PFC Jerod Dennis Bco 3/504 PIR.
In Kabul,the Irish Club shut itself down after warnings that it could be the target of a terror attack. The nightclub had originally opened on March 17. It was frequented by aid workers, diplomats and journalists. Afghans were not allowed to patronize the club because the sale of alcohol was against the law.
April 26: In an operation launched April 24, U.S. and Afghan forces arrested several Taliban suspects nearSpin Boldak.
April 27: U.S. Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld postponed a scheduled visit to Afghanistan, where he was to meet with Afghan leaders and coalition troops.
In a statement released to theAfghan Islamic Press,Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said theU.S.-led war on Iraq triggered widespreadIslamic hatred toward the U.S. that will be hard to wipe out. He also said the U.S. victory in Iraq was the start of U.S. attempts to control the entire Middle East.
The United Nations and theAfghan Independent Human Rights Commission accused fighters inBadghis province of violatinghuman rights during clashes in March between rebel forces and soldiers loyal to the local governor,Gul Mohammed Khan. The human rights delegation confirmed that at least 38 civilians, including three women and 12 children, were killed as homes and shops were looted inAkazi. In the same area, local forces pursuingJuma Khan, executed 26 prisoners whose hand were tied behind their backs.
April 28: At least 15 rebel fighters and 15 Afghan soldiers were killed in battles in theChopan district ofZabul province.
Amnesty International condemned a British decision to forcibly return a group of asylum-seekers to Afghanistan. An Amnesty International mission earlier in April concluded that conditions were still not conducive to the promotion of voluntary and forced returns.
Under a voluntary repatriation program facilitated by theU.N.refugee agency, thirty-nine AfghanTurkmen families headed home fromAttock, Pakistan.
April 29:
A Belgian court opened and immediately adjourned the trial of 12 suspects linked to the September 9, 2001 murder of Afghan rebelAhmad Shah Masood. The presiding judge ruled that the trial would resume May 22. Also, President Karzai appointed a commission to track down those who ordered the murder. Interior MinisterAli Ahmad Jalali was named to lead the commission.
U.S. Maj. Gen.John Vines, commander of82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, handed control of combat missions to Lt. Gen.Dan McNeill, the overall commander of coalition troops in Afghanistan. Vines stated "I think there are renegade elements inIran who have an interest in controlling a portion of Afghanistan....I think there are elements in Pakistan — not the government — that have an interest in creating instability....In certain parts, the country is stable. In other parts, it's terribly dangerous....That has not changed and that probably won't change in the foreseeable future....If you had to design an area to support an anti-government movement, you might describe an area like this....Multiple borders, extreme distances, lack of road infrastructure, high mountains, weak central government, areas where there are religious or tribal (conflicts)....It applies absolutely right here."
April 30: Pakistani officials announced they had apprehended sixal-Qaeda suspects inKarachi, Pakistan. One of the men,Waleed bin Attash (akaKhalid al-Attash), was aYemeni national wanted in connection with theUSS Cole bombing. The other five suspects were Pakistanis. The six suspects were allegedly planning to carry out a series ofterrorist attacks in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan.
Dr.Abdullah Shirzai, the policy director of theAfghan Health Ministry, said that the Afghan government would take steps to reduce maternal and child mortality in the country. To date, 16 women in every 1,000 pregnancies died, and one child in four died before the age of five. Such rates were said to be among the worst in human history. The ministry planned to employ more than 20,000 health workers, mostly women nurses and midwives, over the span of a year.
U.S. Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld met President Karzai at the presidential palace inKabul. Rumsfeld also met with U.S.-coalition leader Lieutenant GeneralDan McNeill and toured a training base for the fledglingAfghan National Army. A senior U.S. official accompanying Rumsfeld said the U.S. was "moving out of major combat operations and...into reconstruction, stability and humanitarian relief operations." Rumsfeld's visit was a short lay over on his way fromKuwait to London.[21][22]
Speaking on television,Fazil Ahmed Manawi, the deputy chief of the Afghan Supreme Court, read a resolution made by a council of 350Islamic scholars that urged Afghan women working outside of their homes to wear the traditionalhijab. The statement also urged the government to punish publications that violated Islamic values. The council also called on the government to promotemadrassas and to give the Islamic scholars, in recognition of their role in the resistance to theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan, a say in the government.
Afghan Interior MinisterAli Ahmad Jalali ordered release of 72 Pakistani prisoners and promised more would be freed soon.
May 2: The U.S. announced the resumption of theFulbright Program for Afghanistan. The one-year, non-degree program would start in September and allow at least twenty Afghan students to go to the U.S. for study and training. The Program had been suspended in 1979 following theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The U.S. released 22 prisonersCamp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Information about the nationalities and the destination of those released was not given.
May 6: InKabul, an estimated 300 Afghan government workers and university students demonstrated against the U.S., complaining that not enough had been done to rebuild the country or provide jobs and security. The protest was organized by the "Scientific Center" headed bySediq Afghan.[23]
May 7:Lakhdar Brahimi, theU.N. special representative for Afghanistan, told theUnited Nations Security Council that frequent attacks by rebels on aid workers and on Afghans as well as deadly factional clashes posed serious threats to the future of Afghanistan.
Approximately 30 detainees (mostly Afghani, a few Pakistani) were transferred from Afghanistan toCamp X-ray in Guantánamo Bay.
Afghan Water and Power MinisterMohammed Shakir Kargar said that only 5% of Afghanistan's 25 million people had access toelectricity.
Outside amosque inKalacha, Afghanistan, Habibullah, a Muslim cleric close to President Karzai, was shot to death. Six people had been detained.
May 8: Two Afghan factions fought a gunbattle in Helmand Province, injuring two Afghan soldiers. The clash prompted U.S.-led coalition forces to call in two A-10s from Bagram air base as air support. The two wounded soldiers were evacuated to the U.S. air base atKandahar.
In separate raids on the outskirts ofKarachi, Pakistan, Pakistani officials arrested two Afghans for suspected links withal Qaeda. The suspects were identified asIsmat Kaka andIbadat Jan. Weapons and cell phones were seized.
Eleven men released from Camp X-Ray in Cuba on May 5 arrived in Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, where they remained in custody. The men no apology or compensation for their time, but they did receive a bag containing a new pair of pants and tennis shoes, a jacket, underwear and a bottle of shampoo. Two of the men expressed bitterness at being sent to the prison inGuantanamo Bay without being questioned first at home.
A three-dayRebuild Afghanistan Trade Fair came to an end, climaxing in a US$220 million trade agreement signed between Pakistani and Afghan traders for exports such as carpet yarn,vegetable oil, polythene sheets,tobacco and construction material.
May 9: U.S. Deputy Secretary of StateRichard Armitage met President Karzai and other senior officials inKabul. Security concerns along the Afghan-Pakistan border were discussed. Armitage said the U.S. did not support a recent appeal by theUnited Nations for international peacekeepers to be deployed outside Kabul. He also handed a check to the Afghan government for US$100,000 to help refurbishAfghan National Museum.
In New Delhi, Indian federal civil aviation ministerShahnawaz Hussain told Afghan civil aviation ministerMirwais Sadiqthat India would assist Afghanistan in building its aviation infrastructure. The assistance was contingent on Pakistan opening its airspace to India.
May 10: An Afghan soldier was killed and a U.S. special forces soldier wounded in firefights theKhost area of Afghanistan. A U.S. A-10 aircraft and AH-64 helicopters were called in to kill the remaining opposing fighters.
May 11: Southeast ofMazari Sharif, Afghanistan, six people were killed in a clash between loyalists toAbdul Rashid Dostum and another faction.
In Afghanistan, demonstrators rallied against an amnesty offer that President Karzai made to someTaliban members.
May 12: In Afghanistan, dozens of state truck drivers blocked a highway to protest against non-payment of wages.
TheBritish Army announced it would establish a base inMazari Sharif, Afghanistan to work on rebuilding and security.
TheState Bank of Pakistan imposed a ban on opening ofLetters of Credit for the import of 18 items meant for Afghanistan. The items weretobacco substitutes, non-cottonyarn,dyes, PVC and PMC materials,black tea,capacitors, art silk fabrics, vegetable ghee, cooking oil, tyres and tubes, refrigerators, air conditioners, televisions, soap and shampoos, auto parts,telephones, razor or shaving blades, andvideo cassettes.
May 14: Iran signed an agreement to train Afghan pilots and to help rebuild Afghan airports inBalkh Province andHerat Province.
InSpin Boldak, Afghanistan, one person was killed and three others injured when a bomb exploded in a small mosque at the local municipal authority's office. It was believed to be asuicide bombing.
A British soldier was slightly wounded in Kabul when an Afghan man threw a grenade at a British peacekeeping base.
Gunmen attacked aMine Evaluation Training Agency vehicle onSathi Kandaw pass betweenGardez andKhost, prompting theUnited Nations to suspended travel along the route. The driver was shot in the chest and one mine clearer suffered superficial head wounds. The incident also prompted the U.N. to provide escorts for its vehicles.
May 16: TheAsian Development Bank allocated $500 million for Afghanistan's reconstruction.
May 17: After completing a physical training run, a U.S. soldier died at theKabul Military Training Center in Afghanistan.
U.S. special forces troops seized a weapons cache nearJalalabad. The cache included nearly 400 mortar rounds and over 70 rockets.
In caves atMaymana, nearMazari Sharif, Afghanistan, special forces discovered tank rounds and small arms ammunition, and transferred them to theAfghan National Army.
A U.S. military vehicle struck two Afghan boys inGardez, killing one and injuring the other. The accident occurred after the two boys ran across a street as a three-vehicle convoy was passing. The injured boy was treated and released.
May 18: The Afghan government launched a training program to create a 50,000-strong national police force and 12,000 border police by 2008.
May 19: In a speech broadcast on Afghan television, President Karzai threatened to dissolve the government unless provincial leaders started paying their taxes. Karzai said he would call anotherLoya Jirga to form a new government in the coming two or three months if the situation did not improve.
May 20: The twelve provincial governors of Afghanistan signed an agreement to deliver millions of dollars of customs revenue owed to the central government. The finance ministry said that customs revenues exceeded half a billion dollars in 2002, but only $80 million reachedKabul. Under the agreement, Uzbek leader, GeneralAbdul Rashid Dostum, would no longer serve as President Karzai's special envoy for the northern regions and other officials would have to follow the suit.
Pakistani Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Water & PowerAftab Ahmad Sherpao met with President Karzai to discuss repatriation ofAfghan refugees.
May 21: Outside the U.S. embassy InKabul, U.S. troops shot dead three or four Afghan soldiers and wounded four others when they mistakenly thought they were about to come under attack. "The U.S. soldiers thought the Afghan soldiers were aiming guns at them", a U.S. intelligence official said. "They panicked and opened fire."[24]
May 22: In a Belgian court, the trial opened of 23 alleged Islamic militants linked to the murder of Afghan rebelAhmad Shah Masood and the planning of anti-U.S. attacks in Europe. The two main defendants wereNizar Trabelsi andTarek Maaroufi.
In Paris, France, drug experts and foreign ministers from Europe and Asia met to address the massive flows ofopium andheroin coming out of Afghanistan.
Afghan Finance MinisterAshraf Ghani announced that the government would appoint new provincial customs directors to organize the flow of revenue to the central government.
May 24: About 80 demonstrators marched through downtownKabul for several hours to protest the accidental slaying of three or four Afghan soldiers by U.S. troops on May 21. Some demonstrators hurled rocks. Some chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Karzai." A demand was made that the U.S. soldiers involved in the incident be handed over to the local authorities. At least one ISAF soldier was hurt and two vehicles damaged.[25]
May 25: Afghan authorities arrested Mullah Janan, a suspected military commander of the formerTaliban regime, and two of his aides. The authorities accused Janan of plotting attacks on Afghan government buildings.
May 26: AUkrainian plane crashed near theBlack Sea city ofTrabzon in northeastTurkey, killing all aboard. The plane carried 13 crew-members (12 Ukrainians and one Belarusian) and 62 Spanish soldiers returning from a six-month peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. Initially, the cause of the accident was blamed on thick fog, however some witnesses stated that the aircraft was afire.
Iranian Minister of CommerceMohammad Shariatmadari arrived inKabul to inaugurate Iran's first executive industrial and commercial exhibition in Afghanistan.
May 29: A team of U.S. investigators arrived inKabul to investigate the deadly shooting on May 21 in which U.S. Marines guarding the American Embassy killed three Afghan soldiers.
June 1: InKandahar, attackers hurled a hand grenade at the office of theGerman Technical Cooperation, shattering three windows but causing no injuries.
Several hundredISAF peacekeepers in Kabul held a memorial ceremony for a German soldier killed by a landmine on May 29.
InKandahar, an explosion damaged the home ofAhmad Wali Karzai, a brother of President Karzai, but there were no casualties.
June 2: GovernorIsmail Khan of Herat province, handed $20 million of customs revenues to Afghan coffers, the largest contribution in 18 months. Khan's payment allowed the Afghan government to pay about 100,000 Afghan soldiers their full salaries.
InArghasan, a district ofKandahar province, Afghan troops killed four suspectedTaliban fighters and captured five others in a gun battle. The dead included Mullah Abdullah.
Near a U.S. military base at Spin Boldak, fighting occurred between the soldiers of Afghan commandersAbdul Raziq andGud Fahida. One of the Afghan soldier's killed, Sakhi Dad, also was a part-time translator for the U.S. Army.
One Afghan soldier died and 14 were wounded in a vehicle convoy accident nearKandahar.
Five Afghan soldiers were injured in a road accident inGardez.
A convoy of four fuel trucks was ambushed en route to the U.S. base atOrgun-e inPaktia province.
InTehran, representatives ofIran,Uzbekistan and Afghanistan signed a draft agreement establishing a road link from Iran to Central Asia via Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
June 3: Afghan GeneralAbdul Rashid Dostum backed out of a deal to move from his province to Kabul.
A U.S. armyAH-64 Apache helicopter crashed while supporting combat operations nearOrgun-e in Paktika province, but there were no casualties.
TheAsian Development Bank approved a $150 million concessional loan to help Afghanistan restore damaged roads, power generation and natural gas infrastructures.
Eight Pakistani public and private sector banks applied for licences to operate in Afghanistan.
Following an Afghan government re-evaluation of the administrative structure of some ministries, the Women's Affairs Ministry fired 112 women because they were either completely unqualified or possessed mere vocational skills. Those with needlework, embroidery, and tailoring skills were dismissed because the ministry did not have the capacity to place them according to their professions. A spokeswoman stressed that the ministry was still employing over 1,300 women at its headquarters and its 27 provincial branches.
Swiss Skies AG announced that it would begin flights fromWashington, D.C., to Kabul, viaGeneva on July 14. Later this was indefinitely delayed for security reasons.
June 4: President Karzai flew to London, United Kingdom.
In the Shahi Kot region of Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, U.S. and Italian troops arrested 21al-Qaida and Taliban suspects.
Russia offered to supportNATO's peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. It was unclear how Russia's support would manifest itself. NATO was due to take command of the 5,200-memberU.N.International Security Assistance Force on August 11.
Pakistani officials inKarachi authorizedPort Qasim andKarachi Port to act as an entry point for transit trade to Afghanistan.
A homemade bomb exploded near a U.S. special operations convoy about a half mile from the U.S. military base inGardez. No casualties were reported.
A rebuilt girls' school inMaidan Province southwest ofKabul was burned down. It was the sixth girls' school in Afghanistan to be torched by arsonists since the fall of the Taliban.
Afghan troops attacked suspected Taliban inNimakai,Populzai andHassanzai north ofSpin Boldak. The a fierce gunbattle left at least 49 rebel fighters and seven government soldiers dead. Afghan officials sent more than 20 corpses over the border to Pakistan, insisting they were not Afghans. But Pakistan refused to accept them, saying they were not Pakistanis and warning that the Afghan refusal to take back the bodies could spark tension in the border region.
June 5: President Karzai met with British Prime MinisterTony Blair to discuss reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, then with British Defence SecretaryGeoff Hoon. Hoon promised that Britain would not abandon Afghanistan.
As part of Environment and Water Day, theUnited Nations Environment Programme in Afghanistan announced that a majority of the nation was experiencingwater scarcity. It was estimated that only 20% of Afghans nationwide had access to safe drinking water in both cities and rural areas.
Afghan authorities sent 21 corpses said to beTaliban killed while fighting Afghan government troops nearKandahar on June 3 and June 4, to the Killi Faizo Afghan refugee camp. Pakistani authorities at Chaman handed back 14 bodies to the Afghan officials. The seven were identified as officials of former Taliban regime, including Commander Abdul Rahim, CommanderAbdul Ghani, Talib Amir Muhammad,Gul Muhammad,Gullalai,Noorullah and one man whose identity was unconfirmed.
InPaktia Province, U.S. forces killed one guerrilla and captured another after seeing a group of them open fire on a crowd of civilians.
Said to be the "worst in living memory", sandstorms that lasted more than two months began inLash wa Juwayn andShib Koh Districts ofFarah Province, Afghanistan, affecting more than 12,000 people in 57 villages. Villages and canals were buried, crops destroyed, water contaminated, and livestock were threatened.
June 6: President Karzai met withElizabeth II atWindsor Castle, where he was awarded an honorary knighthood by the Queen. Karzai later gave a lecture on reconstruction in Afghanistan atSt Antony's College, Oxford.
Taliban leaderHafiz Abdul Rahim stated that only eight rebel fighters were killed in the June 4 battle north ofSpin Boldak, not 40 as claimed by the Afghan government. He said the others who died were civilians.
In Tokyo, Japan,Frank Polman, a seniorAsian Development Bank official, stated that contributions by international donors to theAfghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund had fallen far short of the pledges made because international attention had shifted focused toIraq. Although donors pledged $5.1 billion at a meeting in January 2002 to cover reconstruction efforts through June 2004, only a small proportion of their pledges had actually been committed.
TheWorld Bank approved a $US60 million grant to improve the health of Afghan women and children. A project to develop basic health services and ensure women and children access to them was to be implemented over three years by theAfghan Ministry of Health. It was estimated that a quarter of Afghan children did not survive beyond their fifth birthday.
June 7: In Kabul, a taxi packed withexplosives rammed a bus carrying German ISAF personnel, killing four soldiers and wounding 29 others; one Afghan bystander was killed and 10 Afghan bystanders were wounded. The 33 peacekeepers, after months on duty in Kabul, were en route to theKabul International Airport for their flight home to Germany.
TheAfghan Constitution Commission set up offices in all 32 Afghan provinces to gather public comments and recommendations on a draft of the new constitution, which had been worked out by a special drafting committee. Similar offices were scheduled to also be set up inIran and Pakistan to get opinions on the future constitution fromAfghan refugees.
June 8:Bacha Khan Zadran, a regional Afghan warlord, said U.S. forces detained his son,Abdul Wali, in an operation inPaktia Province June 5 and called for his immediate release. Zadran said Wali had approached the U.S. forces to offer assistance. It was unclear why he was taken into custody.
To prepare the ground for imports and exports ofIran-Afghan carpets, the first ever Iran-Afghanistan joint carpet exhibition began in Kabul.
German police arrived in Kabul to help with the investigation over the June 7 suicide bombing.
InZabul Province, pamphlets surfaced that called on the Afghan National Army and police to fight against President Karzai and U.S.-led forces. The rhetoric also warned that those who failed to join sides with the Taliban against President Karzai would be killed.
TheSwiss parliament agreed to send Swiss soldiers to Afghanistan to work with theISAF.
The Arman-e-Millie daily newspaper reported that, in thePanjwaye District ofKandahar Province, a bomb exploded in a vehicle, killing its three passengers. The report did not say when the explosion occurred.
Pakistan summoned Afghan ambassadorNaunguyalai Tarzi to complain about the June 5 dumping of 22 corpses of suspected Taliban on its side of the border. Pakistani spokesmanMasood Khan termed the action "provocative."
Four rocket grenades exploded near an Afghan military border checkpoint near the U.S. base inShkin, inPaktika Province. There were no casualties.
U.S. special forces found three Blowpipe surface-to-air portable missile systems near Asadabad. The systems were still in their original containers.
June 10: Hundreds of ISAF personnel gathered in Kabul for a memorial service to honor the four German killed in the June 7 suicide bombing. The remains were then transported home to Germany.
U.S.-led coalition troops killed four fighters armed with rifles and rocket grenades near the U.S. base inShkin, in Paktika Province near the border with Pakistan.
After completing an 8-day visit to Afghanistan,CARE secretary-generalDenis Caillaux met withU.N. leadership, including Deputy Secretary-GeneralLouise Frechette. Caillaux recommended thatISAF be increased to serve all Afghan provinces and that the U.N. increase efforts to enlarge and improve theAfghan National Army and Afghan police forces. To date, CARE had over 700 aid workers in Afghanistan, most of whom are Afghan nationals. CARE began work in Afghanistan in 1961.
June 12: TheInternational Crisis Group (ICG) issued a report critiquing the constitutional process in Afghanistan. The report suggests that the process is hurried and covert. Public consultations, which started June 7, were due to last just under two months. Culminating inLoya Jirga in October, the process was to end with a general election in mid-2004. However, the ICG claimed that ordinary Afghans would be denied freedom of speech by local leaders and that the UN was ignoring public education on the issues.
ISAF personnel and Kabul police defused a remote-control bomb planted on a busy road.
The Afghan government announced that security force of 700 men would be deployed along a 540-km highway construction route.
A man on a motorcycle threw a hand grenade into the office of an Italian aid organization inLashkar Gah.
June 15: Seven Afghan governmental drug control officers were killed and three others wounded inOruzgan province when they were on a mission to eradicate opium poppy cultivation.
Leaflets in Spin Boldak allegedly written by Taliban fighters threatened to launch suicide attacks against U.S. and British troops.
In Paris, France, a three-dayUnesco conference began to discuss the future of theKabul Museum and the possibility of restoring the site of theBuddhas of Bamiyan.
TheUNHCR and the governments ofIran and Afghanistan signed an agreement to help repatriateAfghan refugees from Iran to Afghanistan.
June 17: The UN warned all UN personnel in Afghanistan of further suicide bombings in Kabul over the next few days.
After a daylong open discussion, during which representatives of more than 30 countries took the floor, theUnited Nations Security Council endorsed efforts in Afghanistan to quell lawlessness, with a particular emphasis on curbing the illicitdrug trade. In an open letter, eighty agencies warned the Security Council that the situation outside Kabul was so bad that many civilians felt life under Taliban rule would be better.
The first meeting of a tripartite commission involving Afghanistan, Pakistan and the U.S. took place inIslamabad, Pakistan. Senior military and diplomatic officials from each nation attended. The meeting dealt mainly with how and where the commission would operate. Further meetings were set either monthly or bimonthly in Islamabad orKabul.
TheAsian Development Bank agreed to give a loan of $50 million to theAfghan Water and Power Ministry. The loan would be spent over the next three years on projects for the production, distribution and transmission of electricity in Afghanistan.
June 18: President Karzai left Kabul for a state visit to Iran, where he was expected to sign two trilateral agreements on transit road projects between Iran, Afghanistan,Uzbekistan andTajikistan. Afghan Foreign MinisterAbdullah Abdullah, Finance MinisterAshraf Ghani and other cabinet member accompanied Karzai on the trip. Included in Karzai's agenda were meetings withMohammad Khatami,Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Foreign MinisterKamal Kharrazi.
TheAfghan Information Ministry shut down the weekly publication Aftab because it questionedIslam and theQur'an in an article titled "Holy Fascism." The article said there had been no progress in the Islamic world for 1,400 years. Copies of Aftab were confiscated and its chief editorSayed Mahdawi and his deputyAli Riza Payam were arrested.
June 19: In Uruzgan province, U.S. Special Operations Forces took 15 people into custody after the group attacked a compound on theHelmand River. There were no casualties during the assault or the arrests.
The UN and Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission expressed concern about the arrests of two Afghan journalists for articles they published in their magazine Afteb.
June 20: InIslamabad, Pakistan duringRefugee Day celebrations,UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesmanJack Reddenreported that "some 156,000 Afghan refugees from Pakistan and about 100,000 fromIran [had] returned to Afghanistan since January." The UNHCR estimates that 1.8 million Afghans returned home in 2002.
An Afghan man under U.S.-led coalition control died from unknown causes in a U.S.-managed holding facility nearAsadabad, in Kunar province. The man was seized during operations on June 18.
Three explosions took place inKonduz province, the first at the residence of the provincial governor and the other two near a building housing coalition forces.
While in France for a medical check-up, former Afghan kingMohammed Zahir Shah broke his femur by slipping in a bathroom. Rumors of his death followed both in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
June 22: TheU.N. envoy to Afghanistan,Lakhdar Brahimi, called for the immediate release of two journalists arrested June 18 on charges of defaming Islam. TheAfghan Supreme Court planned to put the two journalists on trial.
Security forces raided the home of anAfghan refugee in the Kurram tribal area of Pakistan along the Afghan border and seized 21 Russian-made missiles. No arrest was made and the Afghan refugee fled into Afghanistan.
June 23: Officials inKandahar Province arrestedMullah Nasim, a significant figure in the former Taliban intelligence service, whom they believed was planning an attack on a dwelling inKandahar housing U.S. troops. He was allegedly near the former home ofMullah Omar. He was also allegedly on a motorbike with three missiles and other equipment.
Troops from Pakistan, the U.S. and Afghanistan began a mission (Operation Unified Resolve) hunting Taliban andal-Qaeda fighters along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan. Over 500 troops, mostly from the U.S.82nd Airborne Division, began hunting theTaliban and al-Qaeda fighters in the provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar on Afghanistan's eastern border. The operation was especially focused on the city ofJalalabad, located on the main route between the Afghan capitalKabul and Pakistan city ofPeshawar.
In a releasedaudio tape,Mullah Omar announced the formation of a 10-man leadership council to organize resistance against the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan.
As part of Operation Unified Resolve Pakistani troops focused on securing passes on the border with Afghanistan. One Pakistani soldier was killed and another wounded in an exchange of fire with some resisting tribesmen.
Two Afghan soldiers were killed in an ambush close to a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.
An Afghan government soldier was wounded in a three-hour battle inMaruf District, about 110 miles northeast ofKandahar.
By the order of President Karzai, authorities releasedMir Hussein Mehdavi, chief editor ofAftaab, and his Iranian deputyAli Riza Payam, who were detained for allegedly defamingIslam. Chief JusticeMawlavi Fazal Hadi said the two men have not been acquitted or pardoned, and will be summoned to court to answer the allegations.
A large fire burned down a large commercial storehouse near downtownKabul, about three kilometers south of the presidential palace. The fire caused US$10 million of damage in various goods, including food supplies, carpets, hardware and electronic appliance.
About 2.5 miles from the U.S. base nearSpin Boldak, at least two Afghan soldiers were killed and one wounded when their vehicle was ambushed by militants armed with rockets and heavy machineguns.
June 26: Under a project funded by the French government, Afghanistan opened four publictelekiosks to introduce a newInternet project to help Afghans learn computer skills and get online.
June 27: Clashes erupted between a Tajik faction and an Uzbek faction in three villages inSamangan province, Afghanistan.
In Paris, France, French PresidentJacques Chirac met with President Karzai.
Insurgents attacked U.S. troops in Paktika province near a U.S. base in Shkin, sparking a gunbattle in which U.S. helicopters were called in for strikes.
A Pakistani delegation of construction industry representatives in thePakistani Export Promotion Bureau left forKabul, for a four-day visit to explore the future of steel, bricks and kiln, cement, pipe and other relative industries.
TheNiswan Girls' School opened in Gardez inPaktia province for some 800 students. The school was funded with help from a $12,000 grant from the U.S. military.
During evening prayers, a remote-control bomb exploded in amosque inKandahar, wounding 17 people.
Pakistani troops, patrolling a village along the Afghan-Pakistan border, came under fire from Afghan rebels.
Afghan Interior MinisterAli Ahmad Jalali thatIran was ready to help the Afghan government construct a number of police stations on the Iran-Afghanistan joint border in order to curb the illicit trade in drugs as well as protect border security forces.
July 1: Phase one of theAfghan Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Program was scheduled to begin, but was delayed becauseAfghan authorities were slow to make crucial defense ministry reforms. The goal of phase one was to disarm 100,000 former combatants and integrate them into civilian live.
An Indian consulate opened in Herat province, Afghanistan.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw visitedKandahar, Afghanistan and met with governorGul Agha Sherzai.
Fifteen (9 miles) east of Kabul, an unknown man was killed because a bomb he was carrying went off prematurely. The blast left a 2 m (6.6 ft) wide crater.
InZabul Province along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, three rebel fighters and six Afghan government soldiers were killed in fighting.
July 2: About 700 Afghan government reinforcements were theAta Ghar Mountains of Afghanistan where about 60 rebel fighters had been battling government forces for four days.
An Afghan military officer, Commander Basir, was shot dead by two unknown gunmen inHerat.
July 3: InMazar, four civilians and two fighters were killed in a battle betweenUzbek andTajikforces.
At theKabul Military Training Center, two U.S. special forces soldiers were wounded in an accidentalgrenade blast. They were successfully treated at Bagram.
NearKabul, Afghanistan, U.S. special forces seized three weapons caches that included dozens of anti-tank rockets,grenades,mortars andlandmines.
About 60 rebel fighters managed to slip out of theAta Ghar Mountains inZabul Province, Afghanistan, and moved into neighbouringKandahar Province. Ten rebels were killed and 16 wounded in the fighting.
July 4: Rockets were fired at a road construction crew in southern Afghanistan.
NearMazari Sharif, Afghanistan, two people were killed and one wounded in a battle between Uzbek andTajik forces.
Three Dutch peacekeepers were wounded in Kabul when their vehicle was hit by an explosion while they were on patrol.
July 5: The Japanese ambassador to Afghanistan,Kinichi Komano, announced that Japan would provide $150 million in aid for reconstruction purposes, such as roads, health centers, radio and TV.
[President Karzai sent a high level delegation to eastern Afghanistan to investigate alleged border violations by the Pakistani military. TheMohmand tribe were worried about Pakistan's military operations in theNangarhar andKunar districts.
July 7: The Afghan government announced that it had collected $56 million in revenue from provincial governors and warlords since the end of March.
About 100 people took part in a demonstration inKabul, in protest against reported Pakistani military incursions into Afghan territory.
New Zealand Minister of DefenseMark Burton announced the deployment of New Zealand service men and women on a twelve-month mission to Afghanistan. Their responsibilities would focus on enhancing the security environment and promoting reconstruction efforts.
July 8: In a second day of demonstrations against reported Pakistani military incursions into Afghan territory, a group of nearly 500 people attacked Pakistan's embassy in Kabul. The windows of eight embassy cars were smashed while televisions, computers and windows were also smashed, including those in the ambassador's upstairs office.
In reaction to attack on Pakistan's embassy in Kabul early in the day, Pakistan lodged a formal protest with the Afghan Government. The protest prompted President Karzai to telephone Pakistan President GeneralPervez Musharraf directly.
Amnesty International secretary generalIrene Khan met with presidentHamid Karzai in Kabul to press for widespread prison reform and improved security. A new Amnesty International report found that warlords were still operating private prisons, with many civilians held in shackles and detained for months without trial.
July 9: German Defense MinisterPeter Struck told theBerliner Zeitung that Germany would extend its troops' mandate in Afghanistan until at least the end of 2004.
July 10: Afghan authorities in Kandahar Province arrested a man and seized a large quantity of bomb-making material. The man was reported to be a brother and aide of formerTaliban defense ministerMullah Obaidullah.
William B. Taylor, Jr. was named by the Bush administration to oversee U.S. policy toward Afghanistan.
July 11: Pakistan declined to accept aU.N. offer to mediate any differences between them and Afghanistan after their embassy was attacked by protesters earlier in the week. Security around the Afghan consulate inPeshawar was tightened.
A U.S. Special Operation Forces convoy north ofBari Kott inKhost Province received small-arms fire. One soldier was slightly injured from bumping his head in a vehicle.
U.S. Special Operation Forces came under small-arms fire from unknown gunmen inKunduz, Afghanistan.
July 12: Four attackers ambushed a police patrol south ofKandahar.
Two Afghan soldiers were wounded in a skirmish with Pakistani troops along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan. Residents of two nearby villages were prompted to flee their homes.
A bomb exploded near a movie theater in south-eastern Afghanistan. There were no casualties.
Afghan Defense MinisterMohammad Qasim Fahim met Russian PresidentVladimir Putin in Moscow. Putin reaffirmed the need for stability in Afghanistan and pledged further aid to Kabul.
A rocket landed near the perimeter ofBagram air base, but there were no casualties or damage.
A blast hit aUnited Nations refugee transit center in Jalalabad, but there were injuries.
July 13: A blast damaged a building operated by a non-governmental organization (NGO) for theU.N.
An improvised explosive device left a large hole in the wall of a warehouse run by theGerman Technical Cooperation, an NGO, in the northern section ofJalalabad.
In a raid near the Pakistan border, Afghan forces seized about 300 rocket-propelled grenades, dozens of anti-tank mines and 20 AK-47 rifles.
Insurgents in four pickup trucks attacked a police station to the northwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Five officers were killed in the 30-minute clash.
An improvised explosive device disabled a coalition vehicle near the U.S. embassy in Kabul. No one was injured.
Near a border post inYegobi District ofNangarhar Province, armed clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan lasted for about one hour.
Following an investigation byScotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch,Zardad Khan was arrested in London.
July 15: TheUnited Nations High Commission for Refugees reported that about 8,000 Afghans had been moved to other camps in Pakistan, while about 11,000 had been sent to a camp nearKandhar. The refugees had been living in a makeshift camp in the south-western Pakistani border town of Chaman since February 2002.
Afghan police officerSayed Nabi Siddiqui was detained by U.S. forces after he reported police corruption and was then accused of being a member of theTaliban.
July 16: In theGhorak District ofKandahar, more than 400 Afghan soldiers and police searched houses for Taliban suspected of killing five policemen earlier in the week. Twelve villagers were picked up on suspicion of helping the Taliban.
Lorne Craner, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights, began a three-day visit to Afghanistan.
July 17: President Karzai issued a decree to convene a 500-memberloya jirga on October 1, 2003, that would approve a draft of the country's new constitution. Karzai said that 450 members would be elected and 50 would be appointed.
The Afghan government paid Pakistan 2.8 millionAfghanis (the equivalent of three millionrupees) in compensation for the armed attack on the Pakistan embassy in Kabul July 8. The payment was delivered in cash.
Pakistani border security forces arrested 48 Afghans for illegally crossing into Pakistan nearChaman. The Afghans were then turned over to the Afghan government.
Sixteen Afghan prisoners fromCamp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay arrived by plane at theBagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The released Afghan prisoners were not allowed to talk to journalists.
July 18: Eight Afghan government soldiers, in a car travelling about 25 kilometers east ofKhost, were killed by a remote-control mine. The soldiers were part of a special unit working with the U.S.-led coalition forces to monitor the regions that border Pakistan.
Afghanistan was officially reinstated as a full member of theInternational Association of Athletic Federations. Afghanistan had originally joined the IAAF in 1930. Following the lead of theInternational Olympic Committee, the IAAF suspended Afghanistan in 1999 because of theTaliban ban on the participation of women athletes. The IOC lifted its suspension on June 29.
Three U.S. soldiers were wounded when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device detonated in the middle of their convoy approximately eight kilometers south ofAsad Abad, Afghanistan.
July 19: North ofOrgun, Afghanistan, two soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition forces were wounded when their patrol was ambushed by automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
One man was killed and another wounded when they set off a land mine while digging a well near a police station inChilstoon, Kabul. The mine was likely left over from factional fighting in the 1990s.
Afghan authorities confiscated hundreds of copies of the weekly newspaperPayam-e-Mujahid, owned by theAfghan Northern Alliance, after it published an article accusing President Karzai of making the apology under pressure from a U.S. ambassador and described it as a dishonor for Afghans. The article demanded that Karzai resign. The confiscation was ordered by Defense MinisterMohammad Qasim Fahim.
U.S.-led coalition forces killed up to two dozen insurgents in a clash nearSpin Boldak.
Several Afghan troops were killed as dozens of heavily armed rebel fighters attacked a border post near Spin Boldak. After the five-hour battle, the insurgents escaped across the border into Pakistan.
July 21: The Pakistani embassy inKabul reopened after having been ransacked by angry crowds on July 8.
TheInternational Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement announced that the network of 50 health clinics in Afghanistan were in danger of severe cutbacks due to a lack of money. To date, the Red Cross had only received about one-fourth of the $10 million which it had requested.
About 100 Canadian troops (the first of 1,800) arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan to serve with theISAF.
July 22: A fire (which started in a timber shop after a wood-sawing machine overheated) in Jalalabad, destroyed more than a hundred shops and other buildings.
InIslamabad, Pakistan, Afghan Interior MinisterAli Ahmad Jalali met Pakistani Interior MinisterFaisal Saleh Hayat and Prime MinisterZafarullah Khan Jamali on the first day of a two-day visit. The visit was aimed at developing cooperation in the fight againstterrorism and to remove recent strains in relations. An agreement was made for Pakistan to train Afghan border security agencies and members of the Afghan police force.
July 24: In Kabul, Afghanistan, U.S. GeneralJohn Abizaid President Karzai.
More than 200 Afghan refugees inBrussels began a hunger strike inSainte-Croix Church. They said they would rather die than go back to a country they considered too dangerous.
July 25: Six Afghan policemen were wounded, two seriously, when their vehicle hit aland mine about 50 km (31 mi) east ofKandahar.
NearKandahar, an Afghan soldier was wounded by a landmine while chasing rebels who fired a rocket at a government post.
Zardad Khan made his first court appearance in London, England.
July 26: Under a pilottelekiosk project funded by France, the telekiosk.moc.gov.af website was launched in Afghanistan. In bothDari and English language, the site provided links to government and health information, job listings and business information. The site also provided community forums, information on local hotels and restaurants, and a Dari-English phrasebook.
MullahMohammed Omar approved Mullah Abdul Samad as the new deputy military commander for southern Afghanistan and ordered him to intensifyguerrilla attacks on U.S. and coalition forces.
InSpin Boldak, Afghanistan, posters appeared that threatened death to twenty-five informers accused of collaborating with U.S. and government forces.
A ground-breaking ceremony took place inTehran, Iran to mark the start of construction of a four-kilometer Milak-Zaranj road. Iran allocated US$849,847 for the project. Iran'sHossein Amini and Afghanistan'sKarim Barahouei attended the ceremony.
July 28: TheUnited States State Department warned U.S. citizens in Afghanistan that the security environment in the country was "volatile and unpredictable."
July 29: TheUNHCR announced that, with its support, more than 300,000Afghan refugees had returned home in 2003.
Human Rights Watch released a report that, in Afghanistan, U.S.-led coalition support for warlords was destabilizing the nation and could threaten the elections of 2004. Abuses carried out by theAfghan National Army and local police were also highlighted, including kidnappings, burglaries, rapes, intimidation, harassment of journalists, and extortions.
During aUnited Nations Security Council debate, Indian AmbassadorVijay K. Nambiar expressed concern that, through charities and drug trade,al Qaeda still had the ability to finance its own activities. He also voiced concerns that al Qaeda continued to procure weapons through the border with Pakistan. Nambiar demanded an inquiry.
InNaish, 40 miles (64 km) north ofKandahar, Afghanistan, about two dozen insurgents ambushed government troops, killing at least two soldiers and torching twoNGO vehicles before fleeing.
To sort out their border dispute along the tribal region dividing them, Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to use, with the assistance of the U.S.,GPS to work out the coordinates of the border.
Britain deported to Afghanistan a group of forty-seven Afghans who failed to obtainpolitical asylum in the UK.
July 30: U.S. GeneralRichard Myers, chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview that the largest threat to Afghanistan's new government comes from across the border of Pakistan.
InNakhohni, five miles (8.0 km) south ofKandahar, two gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed Mullah Jinab, a member of theUlema Shoora, as he was coming out of a local mosque after evening prayers.
July 31: TheEuropean Union announced that it would donate €79.5 million for reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. The money is meant to supportde-mining, the building of a health system, and other public infrastructure projects.
TheUnited NationsFood and Agriculture Organization predicted that the 2003 wheat harvest in Afghanistan would be the largest in 20 years, due to increased rainfall, increased international aid, and continued success in dealing withlocusts. Malnutrition remains a serious problem in the country, however.
U.S. forces killed at least three suspected insurgents in a firefight near the U.S. base inAsadabad, Afghanistan.
The Pakistani army moved into parts of its northwest tribal areas to flush outTaliban remnants. This marked the first time Pakistan had taken such action.
Floods in thePanjshir Valley triggered a landslide which killed 30 people and swept away 400 cattle.
August 1: Afghan] Education MinisterYunis Qanooni and Herat province governorIsmail Khan in separate announcements deniedHuman Rights Watch allegations that they and other Afghan leaders were involved in human rights abuses.
In response to a July 29 rebel ambush that killed at least twoAfghan soldiers, roughly 500 Afghan troops backed by U.S.-led forces and helicopters entered theTora Ghar District east ofSha Wali Khot, 10 km (6.2 mi) north ofKandahar. The operation against an estimated 100 rebels netted threeTaliban commanders, MullahAbdul Hakim, Mullah Abdul Hamid and MullahAbdul Zahir.
August 2: Afghan Deputy Defense MinisterAbdul Rashid Dostam launched a drive to disarm thousands of his militiamen inJawzjan province. Around 1,000 of his fighters were disarmed. The disarmed men were to be sent toKabul to join theAfghan National Army.
August 3: UN special envoy for Afghanistan,Lakhdar Brahimi, met for the first time with the six-member Afghan electoral commission. Atop the goals of the commission is to register millions of potential voters. To date, free elections had never been held in Afghanistan.
U.S. bases in Paktika province andKandahar province came under rocket attacks, but there were no casualties.
Thirteen Afghan militiamen were killed and twenty-one were injured when a truck loaded with 800 rifles, light machine guns, tank rounds and other ammunition exploded inAqcha District,Jawzjan province.
August 5:Alcatel, a Frenchtelecommunications equipment maker that was providing the GSM network for Kabul, won a contract to supply a complete GSM mobile network solution to Afghanistan.
A press conference inIslamabad, Pakistan held by Pakistani Finance MinisterShaukat Aziz and Afghan Finance Minister Dr.Ashraf Ghani marked the end of a three-day Joint Economic Commission between their countries. The ministers announced that Pakistan pledged to remove six more items from its negative list of exportable items, to reduce railway and port charges, and to simplify custom procedures. The two countries also agreed to enhance bilateral air-traffic, open bank branches of each other, and start railway traffic betweenChamman and Kandahar.
August 6: The firstcivilian passenger aircraft since theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan to fly non-stop from Europe to Afghanistan landed in Kabul. The German airlineLTU thus began a regular schedule by which anAirbus 330-200 would leaveDüsseldorf each Tuesday evening and arrive in Kabul Wednesday morning after a 6½-hour flight.
FourAfghan government soldiers were wounded in an attack on a government 70 km (43 mi) fromKandahar.
August 7: Six Afghan soldiers and a driver forMercy Corps were killed in a gunbattle as they were guarding the government center ofDeshu district in southern Helmand province.
Fifteen miles (24 km) north ofSpin Boldak, inKandahar province, Taliban forces attacked with rockets a government vehicle, killing five Afghan government soldiers and wounding three.
InBalkh province, a rocket hit a parked vehicle belonging to theHalo Trust, a British demining agency, but broke in half on impact and did not explode.
August 8: Insurgents fired two rockets at a U.S. base inAsadabad, in easternKunar province, but there were no reports of casualties or damage.
August 10: TheUnited Nations suspended missions in parts of southern Afghanistan after a series of attacks onNGOs.
In Paktika province, U.S. military planes, called in by U.S. ground troops patrolling the border, opened fire on what were believed to be attackers fleeing towards the border, killing two Pakistani guards and wounding a third.
Leaflets, containing adeath threat against all Afghans who supported the U.S., were distributed nearSpin Boldak and Pakistan's southern town ofChaman.
August 12: President Karzai vowed to executeTaliban guerillas involved in the murder of pro-Afghan-governmentclerics.
A report issued by theUnited Nations stated that Afghanistan had re-emerged as the world's leading source foropium andheroin. The report estimated that 500,000 people were involved in Afghanistan's trafficking chain and estimated an annual income at $25 billion.
In northeastern Kunar province, rebels fired two 107 mm rockets at a U.S. coalition base inAsadabad. There were no casualties.
August 13: President Karzai decreed that officials could no longer hold both military and civil posts. The move strippedIsmail Khan of his post as military commander of western Afghanistan.
In western Kabul, two men were killed when a bomb they were making went off, leaving twisted wreckage of two small cars strewn across their walled compound. A man who survived the explosion later told police they were constructing car bombs to attack "the slaves of the United Nations and the foreign invaders."
Eight suspectedTaliban were killed after they attacked Afghan border forces in southeasternKhost province. Two others, who were not Afghans, were arrested.
In a meeting at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, Afghan National Security AdviserZalmay Rasul, Pakistani Maj. Gen.Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and U.S. Maj. Gen.John Vines agreed to establish ahotline to step up communications between the three nations.
August 14: Southwest of Kabul, two aid workers from theAfghan Red Crescent Society were killed and three others injured when five armed men on two motorcycles fired on their convoy.
August 15: TheUnited Nations announced that it and the Afghan government approved a $7.6 million project to register voters for national elections in 2004. A board of six Afghans and five international members was to oversee the registration of an estimated 10.5 million people over 18.
More than 1,600 soldiers Canadian soldiers arrived in Afghanistan to start their tour of duty atCamp Julien, outside Kabul.
August 16: In a ceremony at the governor's residence in Kandahar,Gul Agha Sherzai handed gubernatorial power toYusuf Pashtun. The change in power occurred in response to PresidentHamid Karzai's decree of August 13 that officials could no longer hold both military and civil posts. Sherzai became a federal minister of urban affairs.
GeneralBaz Mohammed Ahmadi was appointed as the new corps commander forHerat. He had previously been commander of the Rushkhar military barracks in southern Kabul.
InBarmal, Paktika province, fifteen insurgents and seven Afghan government soldiers were killed in a clash.
August 17: Over 200 insurgents crossed the border from Pakistan and overran the police station inBarmal District, Paktika province, killing eight officers. Afghan security forces killed 15 of the attackers, who later fled the area.
A large group of insurgents set fire to a police station atTarway, Paktika province. Four officers were captured by the attackers, who retreated to Pakistan.
InWardak province, 20 armed men stormed a compound belonging to the Mine Dog Center. The attackers beat five employees with rifle butts, fired a rocket-propelled grenade at one of their vehicles and set a mine-clearing ambulance on fire. Police later arrested eight suspects.
August 19: Armed men attacked a locally runlandmine detection center in central Afghanistan, beating up Afghan staff and torching an ambulance.
Low-key celebrations took place in Afghanistan to markAfghan Independence Day. The holiday commemorates the day in 1919 when the UK gave up control of Afghanistan.
InKandahar, An explosion occurred in the house ofAhmed Wali Karzai, brother of President Karzai. The government said the explosion was caused accidentally when some weapons were being moved. One man was injured.
Attackers fired three rockets at a coalition base inAsadabad,Kunar province. There was no damage.
A bomb exploded near coalition troops on patrol atBari Kowt, in Kunar province.
Nine policemen were killed inLogar province, Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, a U.S. special operations service member died as a result of injuries received during operations in the vicinity ofOrgun,Paktika Province.
A U.S. soldier was slightly wounded by a bomb while on patrol near the U.S. base at Shkin, Paktika Province.
At least three Afghan civilians were hurt when a U.S. military helicopter fired on their car, nearUrgun District,Paktika Province.
In Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, at least 20 people were killed and 25 others wounded in fighting between rival militias.
Over a two-day period in Kabul, Afghanistan, Pakistan Foreign MinisterKhurshid Kasuri met separately with Afghan Foreign MinisterAbdullah Abdullah, PresidentHamid Karzai and Defense MinisterMohammed Fahim. Among other things, they agreed to increase number of flights between their nations. The Afghan government raised no objection with 640 Pakistani prisoners being released by Afghanistan, but U.S. authorities still had not investigated them for any links to terrorist groups.
U.S. and Afghan forces destroyed three heroin factories inNangarhar province.
August 22: Pakistan released forty-one men who had fought for the Taliban. Authorities had determined the men did not have ties to terrorist groups.
Two Afghan soldiers and four rebel fighters were killed in a clash involving a group of 250 to 300 suspected Taliban fighters inUruzgan province. Nine suspected Taliban members were captured along with documents, assault rifles, shoulder-held rocket launchers and ammunition.
August 23: Five Afghan government soldiers were killed in an ambush in Zabul province. At least three rebel fighters were killed in the battle that followed.
August 26: InZabul province, U.S. bombing raids killed an estimated 20 suspectedTaliban fighters.
Alexander Mikhailov, deputy head of Russia's drug control committee, stated that heroin from Afghanistan was sweeping through Russia.
A two-day meeting inKabul between among Afghan, Pakistan andUNHCR authorities began to discuss the fate of theAfghan refugees. In the meetings it was agreed that four refugee camps near the border would close down, and repatriation of some 50,000 Afghans would take place. Two of the camps were in theChaman area ofBalochistan and two camps were inShalman on theKhyber Pass.
August 27: A group of insurgents attacked U.S.-led coalition forces near the village ofShkin, Paktika province.
German ChancellorGerhard Schröder's Security Cabinet approved sending a possible 250 troops to theKunduz province of Afghanistan to help maintain order and aid civilian relief organizations. However, the decision required parliamentary approval.
August 28: InZabul province, U.S. fighter jets and helicopters bombed suspected Taliban hideouts. One U.S. soldier was wounded in related clashes in theTangi Chinaran area ofDai Chopan district that left up to 40 insurgents dead.
BritishSIS AgentColin Berry is released from captivity after negotiations between the British and Afghan Governments finally meets a head. Berry had been held since 25 February 2003. Throughout this time he had been 'moved' from location to location following questioning by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Secret Police. Berry reported that during his detention he had been routinely tortured or beaten during questioning by his captors. These allegations were confirmed by a British FCO Consulate by way of photographs taken after one such occasion where Berry had been repeatedly whipped with a metal cable. Berry stated that the line of questioning throughout his captivity had been centered on the concerns of his captors and the intelligence agencies knowledge of their activities. Berry was never officially detained and his captivity was always described as routine whilst helping enquiries. General Jellali stated that 'Mr Berry was our guest'. Berry was moved around by night and 'off the radar screen' for 7 months.
Farooq Wardak, director of theAfghan Constitutional Commission, announced that they would postpone adopting a new constitution by two months, delaying the adoption until the end of December 2003.
August 29: Three Afghan government soldiers were killed and one Afghan commander,Haji Wali Shah, was kidnapped by rebels near the Spin Boldak. Four rebels were wounded, but escaped.
U.S.-led forces came under fire in theDai Chopan district ofZabul province. Eight suspected Taliban fighters were captured and at least twelve were killed. A U.S. special operations soldier died in an accidental fall during a nighttime assault.
An Afghan presidential palace vault was opened for the first time in an estimated 15 years revealing Afghanistan's 2,000-year-oldTillya Tepe Bactrian gold treasures.
Pakistan detained 26 suspected Taliban members in a raid on an Islamic seminary near its border with Afghanistan.
August 30: Afghan soldiers swarmed over remote mountain peaks in an ongoing battle with suspected Taliban holdouts, killing and capturing several enemy fighters.
Pakistan announced that it had set up 23 new check-posts over a 60 kilometer region along theDurand Line border with Afghanistan.
Agrenade was thrown at the Indian consulate in Jalalabad. No one was injured in the explosion.
U.S.-led troops launched a new offensive against suspected Taliban forces inZabul province.
August 31: Two U.S. troops were killed and three were wounded in a clash with rebel fighters inPaktia Province. Four insurgents were also killed in the 90-minute firefight.
InZabul province, U.S. warplanes and helicopters continued to bomb suspected Taliban hideouts in the mountains of theDai Chopan region.
A large group of suspected Taliban fighters raided an Afghan government checkpoint along a highway toKabul, killing four policemen and taking two captive.
In theShajoi region ofZabul province, a police checkpoint near a camp for Indian and Afghan highway workers were attacked by armed men onmotorcycles. Six of the sleeping guards were killed, several others were kidnapped and two vehicles were incinerated by rockets and gunfire.
In Uruzgan province, Afghan soldiers and three suspectedTaliban fighters died in a clash.
September 1: Four Afghan policemen were killed, four were wounded and four were missing after a raid on their checkpoint 115 miles northeast of Kandahar,Zabul province. Indian contractors working for theLouis Berger Group came under small-arms fire in nearby a guest house. Two of the company's security guards were shot dead when assailants opened fire on their vehicle.
The Taliban mounted a surprise attack behind U.S. and Afghan army lines, killing at least eight Afghan soldiers and slightly wounding General Sayf Allah. One U.S. soldier died when his parachute failed to open.
September 2: The Germany cabinet agreed to extending its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan beyondKabul, if the UN voted to expand theISAF mandate there.
Pakistani and Afghan officials announced that Pakistan had agreed to train 800 Afghan policemen in three Pakistani training centers. Pakistan would also providestipends to the Afghan police cadets during their training.
Five rockets were fired at the U.S. base inGardez; there was no damage or injuries.
September 3: In theSar Murghab area ofUruzgan province, a remote-controlled bomb killed senior Afghan military commander MullahGul Akhund along with his bodyguard. A third person in their car was seriously wounded.
In theNava district nearAsadabad, Kunar province, Afghan authorities seized 100 anti-tank mines, mortar shells and remote control bombs.
September 5: InKabul, Canadian Foreign Affairs MinisterBill Graham met with President Karzai and Foreign MinisterAbdullah Abdullah. Graham also opened the Canadian Embassy in Kabul (which had been closed since 1979) and signed an agreement lowering duties on textiles, such asAfghan rugs.
September 7: InWashington, D.C., U.S., PresidentGeorge W. Bush announced he would ask theUnited States Congress for an additional $87 billion for U.S. efforts inIraq and Afghanistan. Just $800 million was earmarked for Afghan reconstruction.
Rebels attacked Afghan government troops inKighai Gorge, Kandahar province, killing five soldiers dead and wounding five others.
September 8: U.S. Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld visited Afghanistan and met with President Karzai.
President Karzai signed a decree postponing for two months from October to December the loya jirga set to approve the newconstitution.
Five Afghan soldiers in a convoy were killed in an attack by suspectedTaliban rebels inKandahar province.
Two US soldiers were injured in exchanges of fire in Paktika province andKunar province.
InGhazni province, four Afghan citizens were killed and one injured in their pick-up truck when they were stopped by rebels, then tied up and then shot. The citizens were employees of theDanish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees, and were part of a water supply project in the area.
The interim Afghan cabinet approved a law allowing political parties to form.
Pakistan suspended the transportation of Indian cargo through Pakistani territory to Afghanistan, particularly equipment meant for theAfghan National Army.
September 9: Over 10,000 Afghan citizens filled Kabul sports stadiums to honor the anniversary of the 2001 assassination ofAhmed Shah Massoud. President Karzai spoke to crowds.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul alerted U.S. citizens to avoid public places. A ban on unofficial travel within the capital was maintained.
September 10: A joint meeting between officials of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the U.S. was held at the checkpost ofFriendship Gate in the border town of Chaman, Afghanistan. It was decided that the neighboring nations would deploy more troops at their border.
September 12:Miloon Kothari, appointed by theUnited Nations Commission on Human Rights to investigate housing rights in Afghanistan, announced that Defence MinisterMohammad Qasim Fahim and Education MinisterYunus Qanooni were illegally occupying land and should be removed from their posts. However, on September 15, Kothari sent a letter toLakhdar Brahimi, the head of theU.N.in Afghanistan, saying he had gone too far in naming the ministers.
September 13: Iran and Afghanistan signed a memorandum of understanding on customs cooperation. The Head of Iran's Custom AdministrationMasoud Karbasian and the Head of Afghanistan's Custom AdministrationGholam Jilani Pupel signed the document.
In theTaftan area, Pakistani border security forces arrested around 100 Afghans who crossed into Pakistan from Iran.
September 14: Afghan Commerce MinisterSayed Mustafa Kazemi announced the approval of 5,000 investment projects worth $4.5 billion, expecting to employ more than 400,000 people.
September 15: InPaktia province, a dozen Taliban members stopped vehicles on the highway and threatened to cut off the noses and ears of men who shave their beards or anyone caught listening to music.
In theChaman area of Afghanistan, anAfghan National Army major crossed into Pakistan carrying anAK-47. He was arrested by Pakistani border guards.
September 19: Near theBagram Air Base at least six people were killed in two blasts at the home of an explosives trader. A boy was killed byshrapnel when a rocket exploded after the main blast. Six to 10 people were injured in the second explosion.
Near Khost, while trying to defuse a rocket aimed at the town, anAfghan National Army soldier was killed and another severely wounded.
Near the Bagram Air Base north of Kabul, six people were killed in an accidental blast at an explosives-filled house.
Nine were killed in an accidental blast at an explosives dealer's house inMehtarlam,Laghman province.
September 20: President Karzai announced new political appointments to the defence ministry. Eight appointments were given to members of thePashtun majority, including the deputy ministerial position to Major GeneralFarooq Wardak who replaced General Bismullah Khan. FiveTajiks, fourHazaras, two Uzbeks, oneBaluchi and oneNuristani were also named to new positions.
NearShkin in Paktika province, eight rockets landed near the U.S. base
In Kunar province, two rockets landed near a U.S. base.
September 24: In New York, President Karzai addressed theUnited Nations General Assembly. He called for a wider international military presence in Afghanistan and an extension ofISAF beyond Kabul. German ChancellorGerhard Schröder told the General Assembly that, in order for Afghanistan's political reform effort to succeed, it needed sustained international support. Karzai later met privately with President George W. Bush.
President George W. Bush announced thatZalmay Khalilzad, his special envoy in Afghanistan, would also be the new U.S.ambassador in Kabul.
September 26: Near Gardez inPaktia province, rebels attacked with a bomb and small arm fire a U.S.-led convoy on an overnight patrol. There were no casualties on either side
NATO Secretary GeneralGeorge Robertson announced that Canada would take over command ofISAF in February 2004.
MullahAbdul Razzaq Nafees, a member of the 10-strongTalibanshura formed in June, was killed in a clash with U.S.-led coalition and Afghan in Uruzgan province.
September 27: InOttawa, Canada, President Karzai met with Prime MinisterJean Chrétien. Reports surfaced that Canada would take overISAF command in 2004, but Chrétien said Canada would not send any more troops to Afghanistan until its current 12-month peacekeeping mission was over.
InBadakhshan province, eight men were arrested on suspicion of smuggling boys. Afghan authorities said they had rescued 85 boys who had been abducted. They were being smuggled into Iran and into Pakistan. Children abducted in the region were sold assex slaves or child laborers.
September 28: InKapisa province, Kabul police found an 18-pound bomb, a radio filled with explosives and two remote-control detonation devices disguised as mobile phones. Two people arrested.
October 1: President Karzai spoke as a guest at aLabour party conference inBournemouth, England.
InNish, Afghanistan tenAfghan National Army soldiers and two children were killed in their vehicles when they were ambushed by 16 rebels in two vehicles. In the same area, four rebels were killed by helicopter gunships.
October 2: InKabul, two Canadian peacekeepers (Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger) were killed and three were injured by a landmine.
Afghan security forces arrested five suspected al-Qaeda operatives, four Afghan and one Pakistani. It was alleged that the suspects came from Pakistan where they were trained at an al-Qaeda camp.
In theUrgan district ofPaktika province, rebels ambushed two fuel trucks supplying the U.S.-led coalition and beheaded two people and kidnapped the remaining four.
InDara-e-Noor, north Kandahar, a pickup truck carrying Afghan Army soldiers came under fire from over a dozen rebel fighters. Ten government soldiers and two children were killed.
October 4: Near theBagram Air Base north of Kabul, at least six people were killed and seven others injured in a massive explosion caused by people dismantling acluster bomb.
InJawzjan province, fighting broke out between two factions and spread to the south and west of Mazari Sharif.
October 5: President Karzai suggested publicly that he would seek the presidency in the June 2004 elections.
October 7:ISAF peacekeepers and Afghan police arrestedAbu Bakr on suspicions of planning terrorist attacks and killing two Canadian soldiers on October 2.
October 10: About 40 prisoners including Taliban members escaped through a tunnel at the jail inKandahar. The escape led to the suspension of the prison superintendent a few days later. It was alleged that the prisoners paid bribes of $80,000. It was not immediately known where the earth was removed to create the 30-metre tunnel.
President Karzai approved a $200 million Japanese-led project aimed at disarming and demobilizing militiamen inKunduz province. The program hoped to start on October 24.
President Karzai approved a law barring judges, prosecutors, armed forces leaders, officers, non-commissioned officers, other military personnel, police officers, and personnel of national security from being members of a political party during their term of office.
October 12: InZabul province, eight policemen were killed when around 100 insurgents attacked government offices. District offices were torched and four vehicles destroyed.
In Kabul, several hundred former Afghan military personnel officers held their third demonstration in a month to protest their dismissal. They demanded reinstatement and lost pay.
In theChaar Cheno district, Uruzgan province, hundreds of Afghan troops backed by U.S. soldiers and helicopters attacked a suspected Taliban hideout, killing at least four rebels and capturing eight others. One Afghan Army soldier was killed and five others were wounded.
InZabul province, gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying two U.S. citizens, but no injuries were reported.
At a wedding inShab Koh,Farah province, three were killed and four injured because of an armed clash between two government security officers.
October 14: In theBakwa district ofFarah province, unknown gunmen wearing uniforms of government security forces opened fire on travelers along a highway, killing seven people and injuring two others. The gunmen robbed the travelers.
October 15: Afghan forces fought suspected Taliban forces in central Afghanistan.
October 16: U.S. Commerce SecretaryDon Evans visited some sites in Kabul. While visiting a girls' school he relayed a message to the schoolgirls from PresidentGeorge W. Bush that "We care about you and we love you." Evans then put his arm around a female teacher, a faux pas in the conservative Muslim state.
October 18: On a road linkingKhost province withGardez province, a group of 50 Taliban whipped drivers without beards, confiscated music cassettes from vehicles and passengers, and distributed pamphlets warning of harsh penalties.
October 19: While visiting Kabul, Canadian Prime MinisterJean Chrétien said that Canadian troops would not be sent beyond Kabul, despiteUnited Nations Security Council plans to expand peacekeeping operations.
Near the U.S. base atDeh Rawud, Uruzgan province, U.S. special forces soldiers andAfghan National Army soldiers capturedMullah Janan, a Taliban commander thought responsible for rocket attacks on a base in southern Afghanistan.
October 20: Outside a UN office in Kabul, hundreds of dismissed Afghan military personnel and army officers protested, demanding back jobs and income lost during reforms of the Defense Ministry. The reforms were aimed at making the ministry more ethnically balanced, to encourage opposition factions to lay down their arms to bring peace to the nation. To date, 20,000 of 50,000 scheduled had already been dismissed since the beginning of 2003.
In Helmand province, two Afghan military intelligence agents were killed and three others wounded when their pickup truck hit a [landmine.
InKunar province, a bomb blew up a pickup truck killing four people.
Over forty Afghan children, mostly fromBaghlan province, who were illegally trafficked toSaudi Arabia over recent years, were repatriated to Kabul. They would reside in an orphanage run by the Afghan Social Affairs Ministry until their families could be located.
In Kabul, theMMRD and the Embassy of Japan hosted anOgata Initiative workshop to define goals for the next phase of the Initiative.
October 21: The Afghan government confirmed that formerTaliban Foreign MinisterWakil Ahmad Mutawakil had been released from U.S. custody at Bagram Air Base. Taliban leadership promptly denounced Mutawakil.
Pakistani border security force arrested Afghan Commander Nizamuddin and two soldiers who had crossed into Pakistan illegally.
Pakistan began constructing a 40 kilometer wall along the Afghan border without seeking permission from the government of President Karzai.
October 22: In the first three days of a demilitarization program inKunduz, more than 600 Afghan militiamen surrendered their weapons to the government.
October 23: Rebels fired rockets at a pickup truck ferrying passengers toHaibak inSamangan province, killing 10 people, including two children.
InKabul, British minister for international tradeMike O'Brien and Afghan Commerce MinisterSayed Mustafa Kazimi signed a trade agreement to strengthen bilateral business ties and to improve the international market for Afghan products.
October 24: Germany'sBundestag voted to send German troops toKunduz, Afghanistan. The deployment marked the first time thatISAF soldiers operated outside of Kabul.
Taliban members distributed pamphlets inLaghman province, threatened death to Afghan women working forNGOs and to Afghan drivers carrying foreigners and their belongings on highways.
About 1,000 Afghan Army soldiers, backed by more than a hundred U.S.-led coalition troops, tanks, and jets, swept through parts ofZabul province hunting for rebel forces. Sixteen suspectedTaliban fighters were captured.
October 25: InKhost province, two classrooms of a co-ed school were completely destroyed by an explosion.
In theGomal District ofPaktika province, U.S. led coalition troops killed 18 rebel fighters in a six-hour firefight, calling in A-10 Thunderbolt airplanes and Apache helicopters to help combat the attackers. TwoCIA agents,William "Chief" Carlson and Christopher Mueller, were killed in a related ambush.[citation needed]
Afghan, Pakistani and U.S. diplomats and military officials participated in a joint visit to the Afghan-Pakistani border to ascertain where the disputed boundary should lie.
October 26: During a visit to Mazari Sharif,Balkh province, Afghan interior ministerAli Ahmad Jalali appointed a new provincial governor, deputy governor, mayor and police chief. The shake-up was an attempt to quell growing ethnic tensions in the area. In one of the more controversial appointments, the former police chief ofKandahar (Mohammed Akram, an ethnicPashtun) was named the chief in Mazari Sharif.
October 27: In attempts to prevent the movement of foreign terrorists into Pakistan, the Pakistan army established over 100 check-posts along the border with Afghanistan, and established a system of intelligence, patrols, and inspections in the tribal areas.
In an article inTime Magazine, the U.S. base inShkin in the Paktika province was described as: "a Wild West cavalry fort, ringed with coils of razor wire. A U.S. flag ripples above the 3-ft.-thick mud walls, and in the watchtower a guard scans the expanse of forested ridges, rising to 9,000 ft., that mark the border. When there's trouble, it usually comes from that direction."[28]
October 28: InGeneva, theUN High Commissioner for Refugees announced that the number of Afghan refugees returning to Afghanistan fromIran has just passed 600,000 and the number returning from Pakistan had just topped 1.9 million.
InKabul, a Canadian combat engineer was uninjured when his vehicle struck a landmine. He was clearing the same route where two Canadian soldiers were killed October 2.
The French armed forces chief of staff, GeneralHenri Bentégeat, arrived in Kabul for an official two-day visit that would including meeting with the French troops inISAF and meeting Afghan officials such as President Karzai, former KingZahir Shah, Defence MinisterMohammad Qasim Fahim and the commander of theAfghan National Army, GeneralBismillah Khan.
InOrgun ofPaktika province, four U.S. special forces soldiers suffered minor wounds after their patrol was ambushed.
Hasan Onal, aTurkish engineer, and his Afghan driver werekidnapped at gunpoint while traveling in theShah Joy District ofZabul province. The driver was freed a day later with the kidnappers' demands, which were the release of 18Taliban prisoners by November 2. Onal was eventually released safely on November 29.
October 30: In a small hamlet near the village ofAranj in theWaygal district ofNuristan province, six people of the same family were killed when a house was bombarded by U.S. warplanes. The house belonged to a former provincial governor, Ghulam Rabbani, who was inKabul at the time. The raid was aimed atGulbuddin Hekmatyar andMullah Faqirullah, both of whom had left the area just hours before. The victims (three children, an adolescent, a young man and an old woman) were all relatives of Mullah Rabbani.
New Zealand Prime MinisterHelen Clark arrived inKabul for a two-day visit that would include talks with PresidentHamid Karzai and encounters with New Zealand forces serving there. At the time New Zealand had around 100 troops serving as part of a humanitarian reconstruction team inBamyan Province, near the site of the ancientBuddha statues which had been destroyed by the Taliban.
Thirty-five miles west of theDeh Rawood district inUruzgan province, rebels killed a U.S. special forces soldier and wounded an Afghan soldier.
TheUnited States House of Representatives voted 298–121 in favor of $87.5 billionwar on terrorism bill. $1.2 billion of that was earmarked for Afghan reconstruction. $65 million of that was set aside for Afghan women's programs.
Because of attacks on humanitarian workers, theUnited Nations temporarily suspended road missions to four provinces in southern Afghanistan, includingHelmand province andOruzgan province.
In Helmand province, police officers opened fire on military vehicles with tinted windows that had refused to stop for a routine check. In the ensuing exchange of fire, three Afghan Army soldiers and two policemen were killed.
TwoArabs and twoChechens inKhost province, attempting to kidnap U.S. journalists, were thwarted when the car they stopped on the road betweenGardez andKhost contained only a local driver. The driver was beaten, but not killed, because he spokeArabic.
November 2: Beginning a week-long trip, a delegation of fifteenUnited Nations Security Council members arrived inKabul fromIslamabad on a German military plane equipped with anti-missile gear. The all-male delegation consisted of U.N. ambassadors from the U.S., Britain, France,Bulgaria, Mexico and Spain, of deputy ambassadors from Russia and Pakistan, and of other diplomats fromAngola,Cameroon,Chile, People's Republic of China,Guinea andSyria.
TheProposed Afghan Constitution was presented to President Karzai at a ceremony in Kabul. A constitutionalloya jirga was scheduled to formally adopt the draft in December.
An Indian man was murdered by unknown gunmen in his home in theTaimani district ofKabul. The man was an employee of a private Indian firm which was working on an Afghan mobile phone project.
TheUnited States State Department advised U.S.journalists in Afghanistan to take immediate steps to increase their personal security, after sources indicated that Taliban rebels were planning kidnappings.
InZabul province, rebel forces hijacked twoU.N.-funded vehicles, capturing their drivers and communication equipment.
At least eight people were killed when rebels attacked an administrative buildings inZabul province. The Taliban also kidnapped four relatives of the district chief and threatened to kill them unless the governor surrendered the district to them.
Three rockets landed near U.S. troops operating near the Asadabad.
November 8: A group of rebels fired rockets at U.S.-led coalition forces inKunar province. Coalition soldiers responded with small arms and aerial fire.
The Taliban militia leader holdingHasan Onal (a Turkish engineer) hostage in southwestern Afghanistan demanded the release of 250 Taliban fighters by the Afghan Government. Onal had been abducted on October 28.
The Afghan government dispatched a 12-member defence ministry delegation led by deputy chief of army of staff,Ishaq Noori, toMazari Sharif with the two-week mission of merging the troops led byUstad Atta Mohammad and the troops led by GeneralAbdul Rashid Dostum.
November 9: Miss AfghanistanVida Samadzai won theMiss Earth pageant's first "beauty for a cause" award.
November 10: U.S. soldiers killed one rebel in a clash in theMarzeh district ofNuristan province. Two or three rebels also opened fire on other U.S. forces there, then fled the scene when close air support was called in.
Taliban forces used rockets and machineguns to attack Romanian armored personnel carriers returning to base inKandahar province, Afghanistan, killing at least one soldier and injuring at least one.
OutsideKandahar, Afghanistan, aU.N. de-mining vehicle belonging to an international relief agency hit an anti-tank mine, injuring two people.
November 12: A new television station,Aina ("Mirror"), started test broadcasts fromSheberghan. On air for six hours a night and covering an area of 300 kilometers, the channel planned to broadcast cultural, social, entertainment, political and sports programs in theDari,Pashtu,Uzbek andTurkmen languages.
In theManogi District ofKunar Province, a car was blown up by remote-control, killing at least three Afghans and injuring three.
November 13: InSpin Boldak, unidentified men on a motorbike handedReuters an audio cassette of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. On it, Omar admonished commanders who have given up thejihad.
An explosion occurred outside the small U.S.-led coalition camp inKandahar Province. Later, a rocket fired by unidentified attackers landed near the base.
November 14: ThreeU.N. employees inPaktia Province escaped injury after a remote-controlled bomb blew up near a vehicle they were travelling in.
November 15: Six civilians died when a U.S. warplane dropped a bomb in theBarmal District of Paktika Province.
November 16: InGhazni Province, two men on a motorcycle opened fire on aUNHCR vehicle, killingBettina Goislard, a FrenchU.N. staff member, and injuring the driver. Local police fired at the motorcycle, injuring one of the two men and arresting both of them. The two men were beaten by an angry mob before they were arrested. Taliban officials claimed responsibility and stated Goislard was killed because she was Christian.
Pakistani border security forces arrested 60 Afghans trying to enter Pakistan illegally.
November 17: The UN suspended operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan in response to the killing of one of their employees a day earlier.
November 18: South Korea temporarily closed its embassy inKabul amid warnings thatal Qaeda might launch a suicide bomb attack. Three South Korean diplomats were evacuated to Pakistan. South Korea had 200 troops serving in Afghanistan.
Canada delivered millions of voter registration kits to Afghanistan's electoral commission. Nationwide elections were to take place mid-2004.
November 19: Two 107-millimetre rockets attached to a car battery were discovered by Canadians in a palace nearCamp Julien. The rockets were pointed toward Camp Julien, allegedly in anticipation of Canadian Defence MinisterJohn McCallum's visit the following day.
November 20: NearGhazni, on the Kabul to Kandahar road, gunmen kidnapped and later released an Afghan driver working with aU.N.-led de-mining operation, stealing his car, money and documents.
AtCamp Julien, Canadian Defence Minister John McCallum spoke with troops before he traveled to meet with President Karzai and Defence Minister GeneralFahim Khan.
Completing a week-long sweep, Pakistani authorities arrested more than 500 illegal Afghan migrants.
November 21: InAshgabat,Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan defeated Afghanistan 11–0 in an Asian zone preliminaryWorld Cup qualifier.
As part of anamnesty linked to the end ofRamadan, more than 60 suspected Taliban members and sympathisers were released from a prison in northern Afghanistan.
November 22: Armed men rob four or five U.N. staff and other patrons at the Shang Hai restaurant in Kabul.
Rockets exploded in a garden outside theIntercontinental Hotel in Kabul, but no casualties were reported.
Two U.S.-led coalition troops were wounded when their vehicle drove over aland mine near Shkin.
November 24: In Kabul,Turkmenistan defeated Afghanistan 2–0 in an Asian zone preliminaryWorld Cup qualifier.
At least four Afghans were wounded when soldiers opened fire on demonstrators outside the defence ministry in Kabul. The protesters were ex-mujahideen fighters who had recently been dismissed by the ministry.
Afghan authorities in Kabul arrested two men carrying explosives.
November 25:DHL halted its five-day-per-week delivery services to Afghanistan to carry out a security review. Service resumed November 28.
Near Khost, rebel forces fired on U.S.-led coalition and Afghan soldiers. In the ensuing exchange, one rebel was wounded and several others were captured.
TheUnited Nations changed the curfew for its workers in Kabul from midnight to 10 pm.
November 28: NATO agreed to take command ofPRTs in five Afghan towns that were currently protected byOperation Enduring Freedom. However, NATO added that the change of command would only take place if military resources were available. Such a move would necessitate 3,000 more troops and bases inTajikistan orKyrgyzstan.
TheWhite House Office of National Drug Control Policy released a report that estimated the area in Afghanistan used to grow poppies had risen from 4,210 acres (17.0 km2) in 2001 to 76,900 acres (311 km2) in 2002 and to 152,000 acres (620 km2) in 2003.United Nations figures published a month earlier estimating 185,000 acres (750 km2) in 2002 and 200,000 acres (810 km2) in 2003.
November 29: President Karzai metJohn Abizaid, the head of theU.S. Central Command, in Kabul. Their agenda included the prevention of militants infiltrating from Pakistan.
Hassan Onal,Turkish road engineerkidnapped by theTaliban on October 28, was released to tribal elders inZabul province. A Taliban spokesman claimed Onal had been freed because the Afghan government had released two militants.
President Karzai laid claims that fugitiveTaliban leader MullahMohammed Omar had been seen the previous day offering prayers inQuetta, Pakistan. Pakistan quickly rejected the claim.
Amnesty International reported that the U.S. military had not fulfilled its promise to release findings from an investigation into the deaths of two Afghan prisoners, who died while in U.S. custody at Bagram Air Base, December 3 and December 10, 2002.
Near a U.S. base atDeh Rawood in Uruzgan province, an Afghan Army soldier fighting alongside U.S. forces was killed while engaged with enemy forces.
Voter-registration centers opened in eight Afghan cities, includingJalalabad. Elections were scheduled for June 2004.
Renegade Afghan warlordBacha Khan Zadran and his brotherAmanullah Khan Zadran were arrested at a border checkpoint inDirdoni, Pakistan. They were later turned over to Afghan officials February 3, 2003.
December 2: Warlords in northern Afghanistan handed over tanks and cannons to the Afghan Army.Abdul Rashid Dostumgave up just three tanks in the disarmament drive, whileUstad Atta Mohammad gave up more than 50.
December 3: An Afghan policeman, Khodai Rahim, threw a grenade at a U.S. military vehicle in a crowded market inKandahar, injuring two U.S. soldiers, another policeman and a local bystander. One of the soldiers lost his leg. The attacker was arrested.
Twenty former asylum seekers arrived in Kabul, (17 fromNauru) and were placed in a guesthouse organized by theAfghan Ministry for Refugees and Repatriation. Over the next ten days, they were repatriated to their homes.
December 4: In theChakaw region ofFarah province, at least one Afghan working for theU.N. Central Statistics Department was killed and 11 wounded when attackers opened fire on their convoy.
Taliban commanderHafiz Abdul Majeed said in an interview withReuters that Taliban attacks would be stepped up in coming days and warned against attending the constitutionloya jirga set for December 10.
The U.S. military seized a large arms cache hidden in the mail jail ofKandahar.
December 5: Men burst into the office of aTurkish construction company southeast of Kabul, beat and tied up an Afghan staff member, then abducted two Turkish engineers and another Afghan. They were released December 8.
Near Gardez inPaktia province, an air and ground attack by U.S. special forces on a compound, used by a rebel commanderMullah Jalani to store munitions, killed six children and two adults.
December 6: A bomb wounded at least 18 people in the main market in theChawk Shida district ofKandahar. One report suggested the bomb may have been rigged to a bicycle, while another report said the bomb had been hidden inside a pressure cooker. PresidentHamid Karzai laid blamed theTaliban, but Taliban spokesman Mullah Abdul Samad denied any involvement, saying: "Taliban do no attack civilian targets." A latercontrolled explosion by U.S. troops caused additional panic in the city.
After shopping with Afghan colleagues for chickens inBazargan,Zabul province, two Indian workers werekidnapped by three men armed with machineguns.
Seven boys, two girls and a 25-year-old man were killed when two U.S.A-10 Thunderbolt II planes fired rockets and bullets into a group of villagers sitting under a tree inHutala.Mullah Wazir, the intended target, was not at home at the time. U.S. ambassadorZalmay Khalilzad stated the next day that Wazir was killed in the attack, but retracted the statement shortly after.
The U.S. military launched its biggest ever ground operation,Operation Avalanche, across eastern and southern Afghanistan. Over 2,000 soldiers were involved, including four infantry battalions as well as soldiers from theAfghan National Army and militia.
December 7: Two Turkish workers werekidnapped as they worked on a well-digging project just outsideKabul, Afghanistan. It was reported that the incident regarded a land dispute. The workers would be released in March 2004.
December 8: Anwar Shah, a Pakistani engineer, was shot dead and another went missing, after gunmen attacked their vehicle nearMuqur, Ghazni. MullahSabir Momin, the Taliban's deputy operations commander in southern Afghanistan, said the men were attacked because they were "American agents."
To mark the arrival of a new installment of Indian donated biscuits in Afghanistan, Afghan actor and director Hashmat Khan, Indian AmbassadorVivek Katju, Afghan Deputy Education MinisterIshraq Hussaini and theWorld Food Programme Country DirectorSusana Rico participated in a ceremony inKabul. The shipment would provide more than one million school children with nutritious snacks.
December 9:UNICEF launched its final round ofpolio immunization in Afghanistan for 2003. 25,000 volunteers in 19 provinces administered poliovaccine to 3.4 million children under the age of five.
In Kabul, militia forces, involving more than 1,000 soldiers, began the formal process of turning over to the Afghan government their weapons, including about a half-dozenRussian T-54 and T-55 tanks.
Through local newspapers and radio reports in Afghanistan, the Taliban threatened to kill participants of the constitutionalloya jirga inKabul.
December 10: With no official explanation, the start of the constitutionalloya jirga (scheduled to start December 10) was delayed until December 12. President Karzai stated during a press conference that he would not run in future elections if the loya jirga opted for aprime minister as well as apresident.
InDalan Sang, warlordMohammed Fahim ordered part of his militia to transport their weapons (including 11 tanks, 10 rocket-launchers and two scud missiles) to anAfghan National Army installation nearKabul.
December 11: In an interview,Zabul province Deputy GovernorMulvi Mohammad Omar said that five of the area's eight districts were now under the indirect control of Taliban sympathizers.
Officials inTajikistan said to the media that opium production in Afghanistan increased by six percent for the year.
InJalalabad, at least threebodyguards of commanderEsmatullah Muabat and two soldiers of the Jalalabad militia force were in a clash against U.S. soldiers at a maternity hospital as the soldiers tried to arrest Muabat.
A small bomb exploded in a trash can about a quarter of a mile from the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad, but nobody was injured.
After 55 days, Italian engineers completed work to prevent the collapse of the cliff walls that house the remaining fragments of theBamyan Buddhas.
December 12: The UN's special representative to Afghanistan,Lakhdar Brahimi, stated that the U.N. would have to pull out of the nation if security did not improve.
Avideotape was received by theBBC in Pakistan that revealed recentTaliban activities in southern Afghanistan, including a bomb-making facility.
Citing the delay in the arrival of some delegates, the start of the constitutionalloya jirga (rescheduled for December 12) was delayed until December 13.Human Rights Watch claimed that the constitutional loya jirga was being marred by vote buying, intimidation, and fears that President Karzai would try to force it through the assembly without a proper debate.
In a move that surprised many, President Karzai named GeneralAbdul Rashid Dostum as one of the delegates to the constitutionalloya jirga. Dostum was originally elected as a delegate to representUzbeks, but he was later disqualified because of a rule banning military commanders from the delegate elections. Karzai got around the ban by including Dostum in the 50 delegates he was allowed to appoint to the 500-member assembly.
December 14: by a majority vote,Sabghatullah Mujadidi was elected as chairman of theloya jirga. Mujadidi stated to the press that he favored a strong president backed by a strong parliament, and that he sought a moderate form ofIslam.
December 16: Three rockets landed in populated areas of Kabul, but there were no casualties.
Near the village ofDurrani southwest of Kabul, President Karzai dedicated a new 300-mile road connecting Kabul to Khandahar. At the ceremony were U.S. AmbassadorZalmay Khalilzad and Afghan Interior MinisterAli Ahmad Jalali. Hundreds of U.S. and Afghan soldiers stood guard along the route to the ceremony.
December 17: During the fourth day of theLoya Jirga of 2003 a proposal made by President Karzai to confine debate to a draft constitution that would give the president sweeping powers was met with protests and interruptions from delegates, mainly supporters of theNorthern Alliance. AlsoMalalai Juya denounced some of her colleagues aswar criminals, prompting some delegates to demand her removal from the council and sparking some death threats. Juya was later placed under U.N. protection for her safety. Foreign journalists were barred from covering the session.
During a search at a checkpoint near a border crossing, more than fourPashtuns were arrested by Pakistani security forces as they tried to smuggle 500 kilograms of explosives into Afghanistan.
In the mountainside of Kabul, Canadian soldiers deliveredChristmas boxes to hundreds of displaced families.
December 18: Scores ofLoya jirga delegates protested for a second day against sweeping powers sought by President Karzai. Foreign journalists were barred from covering the session. State-controlled television stopped its live coverage.
December 20: Taliban officials offered to release two Indian engineers kidnapped December 6 in exchange for 50 militants. The engineers would not be released until March 2004.
Loya jirga chairmanSibghatullah Mujaddedi announced that nine of the ten delegate groups had concluded their talks and that their proposed amendments would soon be put to a vote.
InShehroba, at least five Afghan soldiers were killed and commander Naik Mohammad was wounded in a Taliban attack.
Two Afghan Army soldiers were killed when a vehicle in a military convoy hit a remote-controlled bomb along the road betweenKhost and Kabul.
December 21: Two rockets were fired into Kabul. There were no casualties.
In Kabul, a 10-day cultural and art exhibition of the Islamic Republic of Iran was inaugurated. On hand were Iran's ambassador to AfghanistanMohammad Reza Bahrami and Afghanistan's Minister of Information and CultureSeyed Makhdum Rahin.
U.S. GeneralDavid Barno, the new coalition commander in Afghanistan, outlined changes in the strategy to improve security.
December 22: A review of Afghanistan published by theInternational Monetary Fund stated that its economy remained threatened by lawlessness and inadequate public safety and urged the Afghan government to ask major creditors to cancel its debts. The review also suggested that opium accounted for half of Afghanistan'sgross domestic product.
Fourteen Taliban suspects were arrested by U.S. and Afghan forces in theDara Bagh area inZabul province. SixteenAK-47 rifles and five heavy machine-guns were seized.
December 23: U.S. and Afghan forces searched the home ofHamidullah Khan Tokhi, a former governor ofZabul province, and seized 60 AK-47 rifles.
December 24:Loya jirga council chairmanSibghatullah Mujaddedi said the delegate groups were ready to present possible amendments.
Two Indian engineers, abducted December 6 by suspectedTaliban, were released without conditions.
TheWorld Bank approved a US$95 million grant towards Afghanistan's National Self-Help Poverty Eradication programme that aimed to help improve rural development in 20,000 Afghan villages. The villages would elect their own community development councils by secret ballot, and the councils would then choose on what to spend their allocated funds.
December 25: InKabul, a bomb exploded outside a house used byU.N. staff, demolishing a wall and shattering windows. The blast occurred about 5 miles from theKabul University, where theLoya jirga was taking place.
In Kabul, Canadian soldiers were confronted by an angry mob after a pedestrian was injured in an accident involving Canadian vehicles.
December 26: InDeh Sabz, Afghan andISAF troops arrested seven men suspected of carrying out recent rocket attacks onKabul. The men were not armed but posters ofOsama bin Laden and other documents were found.
December 27: Near Khost, six militants ambushed a car, killing a senior Afghan intelligence officer and wounding two of his colleagues. U.S. troops operating nearby killed four of the attackers but two others got away.
In theLalpura District, about 50 kilometres east ofJalalabad, local officials arrested a man carrying 20 home-made bombs.
December 28: In Kabul, near the city's airport, five Afghan security officials detaining a suspect were killed when their vehicle exploded. The suspect was carrying an explosive device which was taken from him, but he then detonated other explosives strapped to his body. The dead includedAbdul Jalal, the head of Afghan Defense MinisterMohammad Qasim Fahim's personal security. Several other people were critically injured in the blast. Mullah Abdul Samad, aTaliban spokesman, took responsibility for the blast and said the attack had been carried out by a 35-year-old fromChechnya, but later Taliban leaderHamid Agha stated that Samad was not their spokesman.
In a detention camp inNauru, seventeen of over fortyhunger striking Afghan asylum-seekers were hospitalized. It was the 19th day of the strike.
December 31: InShkin a series of clashes between U.S. forces and rebels killed at least three militants and injured three U.S. soldiers. An unconfirmed number of militants also died there when U.S. helicopters bombed a position.
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