2003 in Afghanistan

See also: 2002 in Afghanistan, other events of 2003, 2004 in Afghanistan and Timeline of the War in Afghanistan (2001-present).

2003 in Afghanistan. A list of notable incidents in Afghanistan during 2003

Contents

January

January 1: On his way to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Kuchi elder Haji Naim Kuchai (aka Naeem Kochi) was detained by U.S. troops. Kuchai had stopped the car in which he was travelling some 25 kilometres south of Kabul when the incident occurred. He was then taken to an undisclosed location.

January 2: BearingPoint of McLean, Virginia announced that it had installed and was helping to operate a financial management information system for the Afghan government. The work was part of a $3.95 million contract the company won to help the government upgrade its accounting system.

January 3: The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that security problems and poor living conditions meant it was still unsafe for many of the more than 4 million Afghan refugees to return home.

January 4:A two-day meeting of Iran, Afghanistan and India marked a new start in boosting cooperation in the region. The meeting was headed by the three countries' trade ministers to discuss ways of implementing their earlier agreements on bolstering trade and transit ties, including construction of a railway to link Iran's southeastern Sistan Baluchestan to the Afghan provinces of Nimruz, Farah, Helmand and Kandahar.

January 6: A suspected Taliban was arrested in Bamyan Province and taken to Kabul.

January 7: Two Ariana Afghan Airlines jet planes carrying Muslim pilgrims from Herat to Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage made precautionary landings in the United Arab Emirates. Forces within the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan suspected a hijacker or a bomb was on board one of the flights. Afghan and UAE officials found no signs of any hijack attempt.

January 8: Afghanistan's trade minister Syed Mustafa Kazmi signed an agreement in Tehran to open "all channels" to trade between Iran and Afghanistan and allow Afghan vehicles access to all parts of Iran.

January 9: A ceremony was held at the Kabul Inter-continental Hotel to celebrate the reopening of the Xinhua Kabul Bureau, which was originally set up in 1956 and had to suspend its operation in 1979.

January 10: The governor of Herat Province, Ismail Khan, placed further restrictions on women's education by banning women being taught by men in privately run courses and by preventing women from attending classes in a building at the same time that men are being taught.

January 11: As a gesture of goodwill, Afghan General Abdul Rashid Dostum released 50 prisoners who fought for the former Taliban regime from a jail in Kunduz. Incarcerated since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, the prisoners were handed over to Pashtun tribal elders. Dostum had been accused of war crimes against prisoners, including the suffocation of nearly 1,000 Taliban fighters transported in airless cargo containers after their surrender. The general denied the charges, but said 200 detainees already suffering from illness and wounds sustained during fighting may have died while being taken to jail. President Karzai supported the release.

January 12: In Balkh, Afghanistan, an electronics repairman and a 14-year-old boy were killed immediately when a bomb hidden inside a tape recorder detonated. An unidentified man left the tape recorder at the shop, saying he would return later. When the man failed to return, the repairman inserted batteries, setting off the blast.

January 14: U.S. special forces found 322 107-mm rockets in the vicinity of Zarin Kalay, near Khost.

January 15: U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz took a one-day tour of projects in Afghanistan, including a women's hospital in Kabul, road work done by U.S. military personnel, and mock attacks by the Afghan National Army. Later Wolfowitz met with President Karzai, Turkish General Hilmi Akin Zorlu (commander of the International Security Assistance Force), and had dinner with U.S. troops.

January 16: Fifty-two Afghan agents of the Afghan Presidential Protective Service graduated from a basic training course run by the U.S. Diplomatic Security Bureau's Anti-Terrorism Assistance department.

January 17: The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to extend and improve efforts to control the remnants of Afghanistan's former Taliban government and the al-Qaeda network.

January 18: On the one-year anniversary of its first visit to Camp X-Ray at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the International Committee of the Red Cross renewed its appeal to the U.S. to clarify the status of hundreds of terror suspects it was holding without charge. To date, the U.S. designated them as illegal combatants rather than prisoners of war.

January 20: In the midst of his three-day tour of India, the Afghanistan Deputy Minister of Agriculture Mohammed Sharif announced that India pledged to provide 100,000 tons of wheat and 15,000 tons of fertilizers to Afghanistan. However, Pakistan remained a road block in the plans because it had objections over Indian food passing through its territory.

January 22: About 25 kilometres east of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Afghan soldiers seized more than 1,000 containers of acetic anhydride — a chemical used in turning opium into heroin.

January 23: A reported from the British Royal Institute of International Affairs stated that a sizeable portion of the money channeled to rebuilding Afghanistan had been spent on humanitarian aid. Furthermore, much of the $5.8 billion promised by international donors had not yet arrived.

January 24: In different villages near Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, U.S. forces and Afghan troops arrested 20 armed suspects, including two alleged Taliban commanders. Rocket launchers, explosives and automatic rifles were also recovered.

January 25: A district security chief of Logar Province, Afghanistan, was kidnapped by suspected antique smugglers.

January 26: Gunmen attacked a convoy from the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR, as it traveled through Nangarhar Province, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Two policemen were killed, and another four men were believed to have died. One of the alleged attackers was later arrested.

January 27: President Karzai ordered a Cabinet inquiry into the ban on cable television broadcasts which had been dictated by Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari a week earlier.

January 28: U.S. war planes, including B-1 Lancer bombers, F-16 Fighting Falcons and AC-130 gunships, bombed rebel fighters in the mountainous region near Spin Boldak, Afghanistan. Some 200 U.S. special forces troops were engaged in the mountain battle.

January 29: The United Nations Environment Programme reported that more than half of Kabul's water supply was going to waste. It found children working 12-hour shifts in dangerous factories, and sleeping at their machines. In Herat, only 10% of the 150 public taps were working. There, and in Mazari Sharif, Kandahar and Kabul, the team found medical waste from hospitals in the streets and an abandoned well.

January 30: An MH-60, an adapted version of the Black Hawk, crashed during training near Bagram Air Base, killing four.

January 31: An anti-tank mine rigged to a mortar bomb destroyed a bridge outside Kandahar, Afghanistan, killing as many as 15 people travelling on a bus. The bus driver Ahmad Zia, and a 12-year-old boy survived.

February

February 1: The Afghan Presidential Protective Service began assisting U.S. agents to protect President Karzai.

February 2: As part of a global U.N. campaign to cut deaths among mothers and new-born children, UNICEF began a week long project to vaccinate 740,000 women in four major [Afghan cities.

February 3: A private memo from Canadian deputy chief, Vice-Admiral Greg Maddison to the chief of the Canadian defense staff, Gen. Ray Henault, said that command of the United Nations forces in Afghanistan was "not viable with Canada as the lead nation" without multinational support. Canada was scheduled to take over command in August 2003.

February 4: Afghan government forces clashed with suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in the mountainous area of Shawali Kot north of the city of Kandahar. Two Dutch F-16 aircraft bombed the cave complex as part of a follow-up to the attack.

February 5:Helge Boes, a CIA counter terrorism officer, was killed and two wounded in a grenade accident during a live fire exercise in eastern Afghanistan.

February 6: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers and the head of the U.S. Permanent Mission, Ambassador Kevin Moley, signed agreements for U.S. contributions for humanitarian needs of $15 million for Afghanistan and $12.1 million for Iraq.

February 7: U.S. troops were fired upon while they were searching a compound south-west of Gardez, Afghanistan in an early morning operation following an intelligence report. There were no casualties on either side.

February 8: German Defence Minister Peter Struck said that US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had assured Struck that he would support the German proposal for NATO to take over.

February 9: On the orders of President Karzai, 138 people, including 72 members of the Taliban, were freed from Afghan jails in a goodwill gesture before the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. Freed were prisoners who were critically ill, older than 60, serving minor offences or women who had finished half their sentence.

February 10: Afghanistan became the 89th nation to join the International Criminal Court. The ratification took effect May 1, 2003. The court will prosecute those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It will intervene only when a country is unable or lacks the political will to carry out the trial.

February 11: U.S. bombers fired laser-guided bombs at 25 armed Taliban suspects near the village of Lejay in the Baghran valley. Afghan authorities said that the raids had killed 17 civilians.

February 12: Canada said it would send up to 2,000 troops (consisting of a battle group and a brigade headquarters) to Afghanistan later in the year to bolster the United Nations peacekeeping mission. To date, Canada had two warships, two maritime patrol aircraft, three transport plans, and about 850 military personnel in the region searching for al Qaeda or Taliban operatives from Afghanistan.

February 13: In Operation Eagle Fury, coalition warplanes dropped four 500 pound bombs and fired several hundred rounds of ammunition at the caves. Special forces patrols had collected abandoned ammunition casings and rocket-launchers. 15 fighters were captured by more than 100 US troops, while an estimated 30 rebels were believed to have suffered heavy injuries.

February 14: In Kabul, four armed robbers stormed into the office of a French charity (Solidarity, working to help farmers), tied up two Afghan employees and stole cash. Police chief General Basir Falangi said authorities were investigating and vowed to find the robbers.

February 15: U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that the Bush administration continued to hold the belief that Afghanistan still belonged to the Afghans. He said US forces were in Afghanistan to promote the goal of long-term stability and independence through the development of local institutions. In response to concerns over the U.S. shifting its focus onto Iraq, he said that whatever else happens in the world, the US would not abandon Afghanistan.

February 16: In Balochistan, Pakistan, strong winds and heavy rains caused a wall to collapse in a Latifabad refugee camp, killing a nine-year-old girl and injuring three of her family members. Some 50 Afghan families in a Mohammad Kheil camp also lost their homes and tents in the storms. Later in the week, UNHCR distributed tents, food, coal and blankets to the affected refugees, along with 150 tents and 900 quilts to storm-hit refugees in Chaghi refugee village in Baluchistan's Dalbandin area.

February 17: Afghan officials, workers, and citizens gathered at the Kabul museum for the opening of two newly renovated rooms. The purpose of the rooms was to begin repairing the collection of thousands of statues that were smashed in the Spring of 2001. The British Government, with the advice of the British Museum, paid for the renovation, and British soldiers partook in the work. Japan promised photographic equipment, Greece was to rebuild one wing, the Asian Foundation was to develop an inventory, and the U.S. pledged more money for a restoration department. UNESCO was to work on the windows and water supply.

February 18: A fire swept through an observation post outside the U.S. headquarters outside the U.S. military Bagram Air Base, forcing a quick evacuation. The cause of the fire was not known. No one was injured.

February 19: Operation Viper began as U.S. CH-47 Chinook helicopters carrying US troops touched down in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. Their mission was to hunt down Taliban leaders believed hiding there.

February 20: President Karzai left Kabul for a four-nation tour (Japan, Malaysia, the U.S., and India). Karzai is accompanied by Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah and a high-level official delegation.

February 21: President Karzai arrived in Tokyo, Japan to attend a conference of nations involved in pledging donations toAfghanistan. In a press conference, Karzai expressed confidence that his government would succeed in creating a unified Afghan fighting force, and in stabilizing areas beyond Kabul. But he also acknowledged that fighting has continued between rival warlords and that terrorist pockets continue to plague areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border. He estimated that about 100,000irregular troops still need to disarm. Japan is the second largest donor nation of Afghanistan after the U.S.

February 22: A one-day international donors' conference to help President Karzai tighten control over Afghanistan took place in Tokyo, Japan. There were about 45 donor nations and international organizations in attendance. The meeting, called by Japan, sought to raise money for efforts to disarm warlords and extend President Karzai's authority outside Kabul, Afghanistan.

February 23: A International Committee of the Red Cross project started in Bamyan that provided women with vegetable seeds and training to tend family plots more productively.

February 24: Afghan Minister for Mines and Industries Juma Mohammad Mohammadi and Pakistan foreign ministry official Mohammad Farhad Ahmed were among eight people on board a Cessna plane that crashed into the Arabian Sea shortly after takeoff. The aircraft was headed for Balochistan, Pakistan near the Iranian border. Also on board the aircraft were three other Afghan officials, two crew members and Sun Changsheng, CEO of MCC Resource Development. They had been traveling to a copper and gold mining project being run by a Chinese firm in Balochistan. Weather officials say it was clear and sunny in Karachi at the time of the crash. The plane had crossed into a Pakistan military "no-fly zone" before it crashed into the sea.

February 25: Habibullah Jan, a district administrator in Nimroz Province in Dilaram, 135 miles northwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan, was assassinated. Jan's body guard was wounded in the attack.

February 26: President Karzai visited the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, D.C.. What was to be a private panel discussion instead turned into a hearing with television cameras and reporters present. The Bush administration later apologized to Karzai for the way he was treated by the senate. In the hearing, Karzai gave an optimistic view of the state of Afghanistan, to the dismay of some senators. Karzai disputed beliefs that 100,000 militiamen living in the provinces are beyond the influence of his government. He also turned down offers from senators that they lobby for an expansion of the international force, saying he would prefer to expand the new national Afghan army, which to date had about 3,000 trained troops.

February 27: During a meeting at the White House, President Karzai asked President George W. Bush "to do more for us in making the life of the Afghan people better, more stable, more peaceful." Bush said the U.S. had "a desire for human life to improve" in Afghanistan, but offered no public assurances that a war with Iraq would not hinder the Afghan recovery.

February 28: Using a pistol and then a sub-machinegun, an Afghan man killed two policemen guarding the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. Five other officers and a passerby were injured.

March

March 1: Two Afghan government soldiers were wounded in a blast in Kandahar.

March 2: The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Afghan poverty-stricken families earning money by selling their daughters was on the rise.

March 3: At 6 a.m., a rocket hit a house in Kandahar, Afghanistan, injuring a man and his wife and causing panic in the area. The wife, Bibi Koh, was in serious condition.

March 4: U.S. special forces found 96 rocket-propelled grenades, five rifles and ammunition after searching a compound in the southeastern border town of Spin Boldak, Afghanistan.

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 from Task Force Nibbio had already arrived at Bagram Air Base. Officials said that 500 Italians will stay at Bagram and the remaining 500 were to take over in mid-March from Americans at Camp Salerno, a coalition base near the eastern town of Khost. 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 in New Delhi, India attended by President Karzai and Indian Prime Minister Atal 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-seat Airbus 300-B4s to help rebuild Ariana Afghan Airlines.

March 7: During his 3-day visit of India, President Karzai told a business meeting in Delhi 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 of Shimla, India to pick up an honorary doctorate in literature from his alma mater. Mr. Karzai took a postgraduate course in political science at Himachal University from 1979 to 1983.

March 8: In Jalalabad, U.S. forces released three Afghans after questioning them at a U.S. detention facility about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. A U.S. helicopter flew them from Bagram to Asadabad. One of the freed men, Saif-ur Rahman, was a border security official in Kunar before he was arrested in December 2002.

March 9: Pakistani security forces carried out raids in Jalozai and Shamshatoo, Afghan refugee camps near Peshawar. No one was detained.

March 10: Afghanistan officially activated its .af Internet domain name on for Afghan e-mail addresses and Web sites.

March 11: President George W. Bush apologized to President Karzai for the way Karzai was treated by a U.S. Senate committee on February 26. Some senators said they feared Karzai, by highlighting facts like millions of children returning to school and the government's smooth introduction of a new currency, had put too positive a spin on Afghanistan's problems. One senator said stressing the positive could hurt Karzai's credibility.

March 12: London-based Amnesty International issued a report alleging that Afghan police were ill-equipped, not held accountable and guilty of widespread abuses. Amnesty said it found evidence of torture and ill-treatment by the police. To date, there were some 50,000 police in Afghanistan. The German Government was taking the lead in assisting and training the force.

March 13: Speaking at an international donor meeting in Kabul, President Karzai told delegates that $4.5 billion worth of pledges offered at an Afghan reconstruction summit in Tokyo in January 2001 fell far short of Afghanistan's needs. He said Afghanistan would need up to $20 billion to successfully combat the threats of terrorism and the burgeoning opium poppy trade.

March 14: Afghan authorities raided a house in Kandahar, arresting 10 members of the former Taliban regime suspected of plotting terror attacks. Police also seized arms, explosives, land mines and documents.

March 15: A warehouse filled with gunpowder exploded in the village of Tokhichi, near the Bagram Air Base, killing an Afghan and injuring three others. The burning warehouse created a fiery orange ball that could be seen for several miles.

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 in Sherberghan. Less than a week later, the number of prisoners to be released was reduced to 72.

March 17: Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai told a meeting in Brussels he feared that a possible U.S.-led war againstIraq could make donors shift their focus from Afghanistan, with future aid for the country going instead toward helping rebuild Iraq.

March 18: An agreement between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UNHCR is scheduled to be signed in Geneva the repatriation of 600,000 Afghan refugees from Pakistan.

March 19: About two-hundred troops U.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 of Kandahar, initiating Operation Valiant Strike. The objective was to locate Osama bin Laden and members of al Qaeda. The U.S. troops were accompanied by Romanian infantry.

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 on Chicken Street, a popular tourist destination for Westerners.

March 21: In Khost, twelve Afghan policemen were arrested and police chief Mohammad Mustafa was dismissed for alleged involvement in corruption, drug trafficking or having links with the Taliban and al-Qaida. The arrests were made by about 50 U.S. and 20 Afghan troops. About 60 police officers were believed to be involved, but when the arrests were made, several fled. Mustafa was replaced by Mohammed Zaman Khan. About 800 officers remain in the force.

March 22: A large weapons cache was found inside several buildings in a walled compound near the southern Sami Ghar mountains, Afghanistan, where hundreds of U.S.-led troops were hunting for terror suspects as part of Operation Valiant Strike. Two suspected rebels were captured. The cache included 170 107mm rockets, two 82mm mortars and 400 mortar rounds, two heavy machine guns, two antiaircraft cannons, thousands of rocket-propelled grenades with eight launchers, and thousands of machine gun rounds.

March 23: A U.S. HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter crashed while on a medical evacuation mission in Afghanistan, killing all six people on board. The accident occurred about 18 miles north of Ghazni. The accident brought the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Afghanistan to almost 60, more than half of whom died in noncombat operations.

March 24: A patrol of U.S. forces from the Shkin base in the Paktika Province of Afghanistan came under gunfire and grenade attack by as many as five militants. There were no injuries. A Humvee, containing three soldiers, was damaged after tumbling into a ditch to evade the fire. A grenade landed underneath the vehicle, but did not detonate.

March 25: In Afghanistan, a group of U.S.-led forces (dubbed Task Force Devil) participating in Operation 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.

March 26: Two kilometers from the Kandahar airport, a bomb blew up a tanker carrying 45,000 liters (11,885 gallons) of fuel to a U.S. military base in southern Afghanistan, but there were no casualties.

March 27: On the dirt road to Kandahar, Ricardo Munguia, an International 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 Mullah Dadullah gave the gunmen their orders via mobile phone.

March 28: The United 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.

March 29: A four-vehicle reconnaissance patrol was attacked near Geresk in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, killing two U.S. special forces soldiers and wounding another. Killed were Army Special Forces Sgt. Orlando Morales of Manatí, Puerto Rico, and Staff Sgt. Jacob L. Frazier, a member of the Illinois Air National Guard from St. Charles, Illinois. Three Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the attack.

March 30: U.S. forces called in air support that smashed a cluster of suspected rebel vehicles and killed at least two attackers in the eastern border town of Shkin in Afghanistan.

March 31: 50 reservists of the 321st Civil Affairs Brigade from Fort Sam Houston in Texas were deployed to Afghanistan to participate in Operation Enduring Freedom.

April

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.

April 2: A deminer from U.S. military contractor Ronco lost his right foot after stepping on a mine near the Bagram base.

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.

April 4: Two explosions occurred in Spin Boldak at a shop and a public baths, but no one was hurt.

April 5: Kandahar Governor Gul 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 of Spinboldak.

April 6: Officials announced a U.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.

April 7: A U.S. special forces soldier was slightly wounded when he was hit in the ribs by shrapnel during a military training exercise in the town of Shkin in Paktika province.

April 8: U.S. soldiers began a house-to-house for suspected Taliban in the Sangeen, Helmand province. The search focused on locating Mullah Dadullah and Mullah Akhtar 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 of Shkin in Paktika province. The bomb was fired by U.S. Marine Corps AV-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.

April 11: On a one day visit from Doha, Qatar, Head of the U.S. Central Command General Tommy Franks visited the U.S. military headquarters at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Franks then traveled to Kabul to meet President Karzai and the U.S ambassador to Afghanistan.

April 12: A taxi packed with explosives exploded in Karwan Sarui, four miles east of Khost, killing four people who apparently were planning a terrorist attack. Two of the killed were unidentified Pakistani nationals a third was from Yemen. The fourth, the driver, was identified as Bacha Malkhui in one report and Zarat Khan in another report, a former intelligence officer for the deposed Taliban government. The blast destroyed a two-story home and injured a nearby woman.

April 13: Mohammed Sharif Sherzai, a brother of Gul Agha Sherzai, the governor of Kandahar province, escaped unhurt from an assault by gunmen on motorcycles near the Pakistani border town of Chaman. 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.

April 14: Pamphlets distributed in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan urged Afghans to revolt against the U.S. and the government of President Karzai.

April 15: While driving to Mazari Sharif, Afghan Commander Shahi and two of his bodyguards were killed in an ambush in the Char Bolak area. Shahi had served for more than 15 years as a commander for General Abdul Rashid Dostum. The assailants were not caught, but it was alleged that they were members of the Jamiat-e-Islami group led by Ustad Atta Mohammad.

April 16: NATO agreed to take command in August of the International 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.

April 17: Afghan border forces clashed with alleged Pakistan militiamen who intruded into border village of Gulam Khan, south of the town of Khost. 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.

April 18: Dana Rohrabacher, a senior member of the U.S. Congress foreign relations committee, met with rival faction leaders Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ustad Atta Mohammad in Mazari Sharif. After the meeting, Rohrabacher told the media that, if bloody ethnic feuds were to be resolved in Afghanistan, regional autonomy was essential.

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 contain Taliban prisoners killed in the Dasht-i-Leili massacre of 2001 and victims of the Jaghalkani-i-Takhta Pul massacres of 1998.

April 20: An emergency meeting was held in Kabul at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development with U.N.agencies and NGOs for the coordination of relief efforts for the 200 families displaced by flooding on April 18.

April 21: The Rabia Balkhi Women's Hospital in Kabul reopened after the completion of a six-month renovation project supported by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Servicessecretary Tommy Thompson took part in the dedication.

April 22: The highest ranking Afghan officials, including President Karzai arrived Islamabad, Pakistan to discuss border disputes, terrorism, trade, and exchanges of prisoners. Tensions between the two nations had recently flared up along the ill-defined Durand line, each side accusing the other of intrusion. Many in the Afghan government still viewed Pakistan, which nurtured and supported the Taliban 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 Minister Zafarullah Jamali and President Pervez Musharraf.

April 23: After a meeting in Islamabad, between Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid 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.

Thursday, April 24: A spokesman for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that they are investigating whether the unidentified illness killing off Afghanistan's sheep population was Foot and mouth disease, pasteurellosis or goat plague. The fatality rate of newborn lambs in the country was over 80%.

April 25: At Shkin, 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, two USAF 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 as Airman first class Raymond Losano and PFC Jerod Dennis Bco 3/504 PIR.

April 26: In an operation launched April 24, U.S. and Afghan forces arrested several Taliban suspects near Spin Boldak.

April 27: U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld postponed a scheduled visit to Afghanistan, where he was to meet with Afghan leaders and coalition troops.

April 28: At least 15 rebel fighters and 15 Afghan soldiers were killed in battles in the Chopan district of Zabul province.

April 29: Rebel forces attacked military posts, an ammunition depot, the district commissioner's office and other government installations in Spin Boldak, killing three Afghan soldiers and injuring two.

April 30: Pakistani officials announced they had apprehended six al-Qaeda suspects in Karachi, Pakistan. One of the men, Waleed bin Attash (aka Khalid al-Attash), was a Yemeni national wanted in connection with the USS Cole bombing. The other five suspects were Pakistanis. The six suspects were allegedly planning to carry out a series of terrorist attacks in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan.

May

May 1: The membership of Afghanistan in the International Criminal Court was scheduled to take effect. After this date, the ICC was to have the authority to investigate and prosecute serious war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanitycommitted on Afghan soil.

May 2: The U.S. announced the resumption of the Fulbright 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 the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

May 3: In the Saydabad District of Wardak province, Afghanistan, a car belonging to the Afghan Development Agency was shot at. The driver was killed instantly and one passenger seriously wounded.

May 4: Afghan Rebels fired five rockets at U.S. special forces training near Gardez. The rockets missed the soldiers by 800 yards.

May 5: Afghan police arrested eight militants for the May 3 murder of a driver in the Saydabad District of Wardak province

May 6: In Kabul, 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 by Sediq Afghan.

May 7: Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan, told the United 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.

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 at Kandahar.

May 9: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met President Karzai and other senior officials in Kabul. Security concerns along the Afghan-Pakistan border were discussed. Armitage said the U.S. did not support a recent appeal by the United Nations for international peacekeepers to be deployed outside Kabul. He also handed a check to the Afghan government for US$100,000 to help refurbish Afghan National Museum.

May 10: An Afghan soldier was killed and a U.S. special forces soldier wounded in firefights the Khost 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 of Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan, six people were killed in a clash between loyalists to Abdul Rashid Dostum and another faction.

May 12: In Afghanistan, dozens of state truck drivers blocked a highway to protest against non-payment of wages.

May 13: A second group of 13 medics from Hungary were scheduled to leave for Afghanistan. The first group left on March 8, 2003.

May 14: Iran signed an agreement to train Afghan pilots and to help rebuild Afghan airports in Balkh Province and Herat Province.

May 15: The World Trade Organization is expected to consider the application of Afghanistan to their body.

May 16: The Asian Development Bank allocated $500 million for Afghanistan's reconstruction.

May 17: After completing a physical training run, a U.S. soldier died at the Kabul Military Training Center in Afghanistan.

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 another Loya 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 reached Kabul. Under the agreement, Uzbek leader, General Abdul 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.

May 21: Outside the U.S. embassy In Kabul, 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."

May 22: In a Belgian court, the trial opened of 23 alleged Islamic militants linked to the murder of Afghan rebel Ahmad Shah Masood and the planning of anti-U.S. attacks in Europe. The two main defendants were Nizar Trabelsi and Tarek Maaroufi.

May 23: In collaboration with the Afghan Ministry of Health, the Afghan Ministry of Internal Affairs launched child census and polio vaccination campaign.

May 24: About 80 demonstrators marched through downtown Kabul 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.

May 25: Afghan authorities arrested Mullah Janan, a suspected military commander of the former Taliban regime, and two of his aides. The authorities accused Janan of plotting attacks on Afghan government buildings.

May 26: A Ukrainian plane crashed near the Black Sea city of Trabzon in northeast Turkey, 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.

May 27: Command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan were handed over from the U.S. Army's XVIII Airborne Corps to the U.S. 10th Mountain Division. Lt. Gen. Dan McNeill also ended his tour of duty. In a ceremony on the helicopter runway of Bagram Air Base, Maj. Gen. John Vines took over command.

May 28: Near Khost, Afghanistan, attackers set off a remote-controlled bomb near a vehicle carrying U.S. special forces. There were no casualties.

May 29: Fifteen kilometers south of Camp Warehouse near Kabul, Afghanistan, a German ISAF vehicle hit a mine killing one peacekeeper and injuring another.

May 30: As a U.S. special forces was moving along a road 50 kilometres south of Kabul, a homemade bomb was detonated, lightly wounding an Afghan soldier travelling with the group.

May 31: Attackers fired a rocket toward the U.S. base in Asadabad in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. There were no casualties.

June

June 1: In Kandahar, attackers hurled a hand grenade at the office of the German Technical Cooperation, shattering three windows but causing no injuries.

June 2: Governor Ismail 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.

June 3: Afghan General Abdul Rashid Dostum backed out of a deal to move from his province to Kabul.

June 4: President Karzai flew to London, United Kingdom.

June 5: President Karzai met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, then with British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon. Hoon promised that Britain would not abandon Afghanistan.

June 6: President Karzai met with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, where he was awarded an honorary knighthood by the Queen. Karzai later gave a lecture on reconstruction in Afghanistan at St Antony's College, Oxford.

June 7: In Kabul, a taxi packed with explosives 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 the Kabul International Airport for their flight home to Germany.

June 8: Bacha Khan Zadran, a regional Afghan warlord, said U.S. forces detained his son, Abdul Wali, in an operation in Paktia 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.

June 9: The UN urged the Afghan government to take drastic steps to make the Afghan National Army and the Afghan Defense Ministry reflect better the nation's ethnic make-up.

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.

June 11: South of Mazari Sharif, in the Sholgara District, forces from the Jamiat-e-Islami party of Ustad Atta Mohammadclashed with those loyal to Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, killing at least two civilians.

June 12: The International 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 in Loya 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.

June 13: In the yard of an aid agency in Lashkarga, Helmand Province, a car exploded.

June 14: Three rockets were fired at the U.S. base in Asadabad. There was no damage and no casualties.

June 15: Seven Afghan governmental drug control officers were killed and three others wounded in Oruzgan province when they were on a mission to eradicate opium poppy cultivation.

June 16: Women's Edge co-founder and executive director Ritu Sharma arrived in Afghanistan for a week's visit. She planned to observe and monitor the conditions of women. Sima Wali, the CEO of Refugee Women in Development, accompanied Sharma.

June 17: The UN warned all UN personnel in Afghanistan of further suicide bombings in Kabul over the next few days.

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 and Tajikistan. Afghan Foreign MinisterAbdullah Abdullah, Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani and other cabinet member accompanied Karzai on the trip. Included in Karzai's agenda were meetings with Mohammad Khatami, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.

June 19: In Uruzgan province, U.S. Special Operations Forces took 15 people into custody after the group attacked a compound on the Helmund River. There were no casualties during the assault or the arrests.

June 20: In Islamabad, Pakistan during Refugee Day celebrations, UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Jack Reddenreported that "some 156,000 Afghan refugees from Pakistan and about 100,000 from Iran [had] returned to Afghanistan since January." The UNHCR estimates that 1.8 million Afghans returned home in 2002.

June 21: Chief of general staff of the French Army General Bernard Thorette arrived in Kabul on a three-day visit to hold talks with the International Security Assistance Force and to plan for the arrival of French special forces in the coming weeks.

June 22: The U.N. envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, called for the immediate release of two journalists arrested June 18 on charges of defaming Islam. The Afghan Supreme Court planned to put the two journalists on trial.

June 23: Officials in Kandahar Province arrested Mullah Nasim, a significant figure in the former Taliban intelligence service, whom they believed was planning an attack on a dwelling in Kandahar housing U.S. troops. He was allegedly near the former home of Mullah Omar. He was also allegedly on a motorbike with three missiles and other equipment.

June 25: U.S.-led troops were attacked near Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, injuring two U.S. soldiers and killing U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Thomas Retzer.

June 26: Under a project funded by the French government, Afghanistan opened four public telekiosks 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 in Samangan province, Afghanistan.

June 28: A U.S. Army soldier died when his vehicle flipped over near a U.S. base in Orgun in Paktika province.

June 29: In Prague, the International Olympic Committee lifted the competition suspension on Afghanistan, clearing the way for Afghanistan to compete in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Afghanistan was cleared to compete in amateur wrestling, boxing, taekwondo, and track and field.

June 30: The United States Air Force announced that F-16 fighter pilot Maj. Harry Schmidt would face a court-martial for dereliction of duty for his part in bombing Canadian troops in Afghanistan on April 17, 2002.

July

July 1: Phase one of the Afghan Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Program was scheduled to begin, but was delayed because Afghan 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.

July 2: About 700 Afghan government reinforcements were the Ata Ghar Mountains of Afghanistan where about 60 rebel fighters have been battling government forces for four days.

July 3: In Mazar, Afghanistan, four civilians and two fighters were killed in a battle between Uzbek and Tajikforces.

July 4: Rockets were fired at a road construction crew in southern Afghanistan.

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.

July 6: An advance team of NATO troops arrived in Kabul to prepare for its takeover of the International Security Assistance Force in August.

July 7: The Afghan government announced that it had collected $56 million in revenue from provincial governors and warlords since the end of March.

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.

July 9: German Defense Minister Peter Struck told the Berliner 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 former Taliban defense minister Mullah Obaidullah.

July 11: Pakistan declined to accept a U.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 in Peshawar was tightened.

July 12: Four attackers ambushed a police patrol south of Kandahar.

July 13: A blast damaged a building operated by a non-governmental organization (NGO) for the U.N..

July 14: Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah met with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington, D.C..

July 15: The United 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 near Kandhar. The refugees had been living in a makeshift camp in the south-western Pakistani border town of Chaman since February 2002.

July 16: In the Ghorak District of Kandahar, 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.

July 17: President Karzai issued a decree to convene a 500-member loya 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.

July 18: Eight Afghan government soldiers, in a car travelling about 25 kilometers east of Khost, 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.

July 19: North of Orgun, Afghanistan, two soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition forces were wounded when their patrol was ambushed by automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

July 21: The Pakistani embassy in Kabul reopened after having been ransacked by angry crowds on July 8.

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.

July 23: In the Zormat Valley region of the southern Paktia Province in Afghanistan, about 1,000 soldiers of the Afghan National Army, together with U.S.-led coalition troops, were deployed in Operation Warrior Sweep. It marked first major combat operation for the Afghan troops.

July 24: In Kabul, Afghanistan, U.S. General John Abizaid President Karzai.

July 25: Six Afghan policemen were wounded, two seriously, when their vehicle hit a land mine about 50 km (31 mi) east of Kandahar.

July 26: Under a pilot telekiosk project funded by France, the telekiosk.moc.gov.af website was launched in Afghanistan. In both Dari 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.

July 27: Telecom Development Company Afghanistan began offering wireless phone service to consumers in Afghanistan, breaking a year-long monopoly held by Afghan Wireless Communication.

July 28: The United States State Department warned U.S. citizens in Afghanistan that the security environment in the country was "volatile and unpredictable."

July 29: The UNHCR announced that, with its support, more than 300,000 Afghan refugees had returned home in 2003.

July 30: U.S. General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview that the largest threat to Afghanistan's new government comes from across the border of Pakistan.

July 31: The European Union announced that it would donate €79.5 million for reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. The money is meant to support de-mining, the building of a health system, and other public infrastructure projects.

August

August 1: Afghan] Education Minister Yunis Qanooni and Herat province governor Ismail Khan in separate announcements denied Human Rights Watch allegations that they and other Afghan leaders were involved in human rights abuses.

August 2: Afghan Deputy Defense Minister Abdul Rashid Dostam launched a drive to disarm thousands of his militiamen in Jawzjan province. Around 1,000 of his fighters were disarmed. The disarmed men were to be sent to Kabul to join the Afghan 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.

August 4: The Bakhtar News Agency reported that Zabihullah Zahid, a deputy education minister for the former Taliban regime, had recently been arrested in Balkh province.

August 5: Alcatel, a French telecommunications equipment maker that was providing the GSM network for Kabul, won a contract to supply a complete GSM mobile network solution to Afghanistan.

August 6: The first civilian passenger plane since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to fly non-stop from Europe to Afghanistan landed in Kabul. The German airline LTU thus began a regular schedule by which an Airbus 330-200 would leave Düsseldorf each Tuesday evening and arrive in Kabul Wednesday morning after a 6½-hour flight.

August 7: Six Afghan soldiers and a driver for Mercy Corps were killed in a gunbattle as they were guarding the government center of Deshu district in southern Helmand province.

August 8: Insurgents fired two rockets at a U.S. base in Asadabad, in eastern Kunar province, but there were no reports of casualties or damage.

August 10: The United Nations suspended missions in parts of southern Afghanistan after a series of attacks on NGOs.

August 11: In a ceremony at the recently refurbished Amani High School, NATO took charge of the International Security Assistance Force from Germany and the Netherlands.

August 12: President Karzai vowed to execute Taliban guerillas involved in the murder of pro-Afghan-government clerics.

August 13: President Karzai decreed that officials could no longer hold both military and civil posts. The move stripped Ismail Khan of his post as military commander of western Afghanistan.

August 14: Southwest of Kabul, two aid workers from the Afghan Red Crescent Society were killed and three others injured when five armed men on two motorcycles fired on their convoy.

August 15: The United 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.

August 16: In a ceremony at the governor's residence in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Gul Agha Sherzai handed gubernatorial power to Yusuf Pashtun. The change in power occurred in response to President Hamid 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.

August 17: Over 200 insurgents crossed the border from Pakistan and overran the police station in Barmal District, Paktika province, killing eight officers. Afghan security forces killed 15 of the attackers, who later fled the area.

August 18: Three Afghan government soldiers were killed in an attack in Paktika province.

August 19: Armed men attacked a locally run landmine detection center in central Afghanistan, beating up Afghan staff and torching an ambulance.

August 20: In Jalalabad, the first Afghan National Army recruitment center opened.

August 21: In raids in Uruzgan province, Afghan security forces captured six Taliban fighters, including two local commanders. Rocket launchers, rifles and grenades were found during the raid.

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.

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 24: Antonio Maria Costa, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime arrived in Afghanistan to inspect the work of his Office.

August 25: In the Dozi area of the Dai Chopan district, Zabul province, a joint Afghan-U.S. military operation, which involved F-16s and A-10s, killed over a dozen rebel fighters. The incident was part of Operation Warrior Sweep.

August 26: In Zabul province, U.S. bombing raids killed an estimated 20 suspected Taliban fighters.

August 27: A group of insurgents attacked U.S.-led coalition forces near the village of Shkin, Paktika province.

August 28: In Zabul province, U.S. fighter jets and helicopters bombed suspected Taliban hideouts. One U.S. soldier was wounded in related clashes in the Tangi Chinaran area of Dai Chopan district that left up to 40 insurgents dead.

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.

August 30: Afghan soldiers swarmed over remote mountain peaks in an ongoing battle with suspected Taliban holdouts, killing and capturing several enemy fighters.

August 31: Two U.S. troops were killed and three were wounded in a clash with rebel fighters in Paktia Province. Four insurgents were also killed in the 90 minute firefight.

September

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 the Louis 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.

September 2: The Germany cabinet agreed to extending its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan beyond Kabul, if the UN voted to expand the ISAF mandate there.

September 3: In the Sar Murghab area of Uruzgan province, a remote-controlled bomb killed senior Afghan military commander Mullah Gul Akhund along with his bodyguard. A third person in their car was seriously wounded.

September 4: The United Nations Commission on Human Rights criticized Kabul police for forcibly evicting 30 families in Shir Purvillage near the up-market Wazir Akbar Khan District of central Kabul by bulldozing their homes. Both the United Nations and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission appealed to authorities to suspend the operation until an alternative could be offered. The families had lived there for 30 years.

September 5: In Kabul, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham met with President Karzai and Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. Graham also opened the Canadian Embassy in Kabul (which had been closed since 1979) and signed an agreement lowering duties on textiles, such as Afghan rugs.

September 7: In Washington, D.C., U.S., President George W. Bush announced he would ask the United States Congress for an additional $87 billion for U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just $800 million was earmarked for Afghan reconstruction.

September 8: U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Afghanistan and met with President Karzai.

September 9: Over 10,000 Afghan citizens filled Kabul sports stadiums to honor the anniversary of the 2001 assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud. President Karzai spoke to crowds.

September 10: A joint meeting between officials of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the U.S. was held at the checkpost of Friendship Gate in the border town of Chaman, Afghanistan. It was decided that the neighboring nations would deploy more troops at their border.

September 11: In east Kabul, a rocket exploded in the International Security Assistance Force base, Camp Warehouse, causing some damage but no casualties.

September 12: Miloon Kothari, appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to investigate housing rights in Afghanistan, announced that Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Education Minister Yunus Qanooni were illegally occupying land and should be removed from their posts. However, on September 15, Kothari sent a letter to Lakhdar Brahimi, the head of the U.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 Administration Gholam Jilani Pupel signed the document.

September 14: Afghan Commerce Minister Sayed Mustafa Kazemi announced the approval of 5,000 investment projects worth $4.5 billion, expecting to employ more than 400,000 people.

September 15: In Paktia 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.

September 19: Near the Bagram Air Base at least six people were killed in two blasts at the home of an explosives trader. A boy in was killed by shrapnel when a rocket exploded after the main blast. Six to 10 people were injured in the second explosion.

September 20: President Karzai announced new political appointments to the defence ministry. Eight appointments were given to members of the Pashtun majority, including the deputy ministerial position to Major General Farooq Wardak who replaced General Bismullah Khan. Five Tajiks, four Hazaras, two Uzbeks, one Baluchi and one Nuristani were also named to new positions.

September 23: President George W. Bush addressed the United Nations General Assembly regarding Afghanistan.

September 24: In New York, President Karzai addressed the United Nations General Assembly. He called for a wider international military presence in Afghanistan and an extension of ISAF beyond Kabul. German Chancellor Gerhard 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.

September 26: Near Gardez in Paktia 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

September 27: In Ottawa, Canada, President Karzai met with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Reports surfaced that Canada would take over ISAF command in 2004, but Chrétien said Canada would not send any more troops to Afghanistan until its current 12-month peacekeeping mission was over.

September 28: In Kapisa 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.

September 29: In Shkin, Paktika province, a U.S. soldier was killed and two others wounded in a gun battle which also left two rebel fighters dead.

September 30: Afghan Central Bank governor Anwar Ul-Haq Ahadi announced that Afghans should use their own Afghanicurrency in daily transactions rather than U.S. dollars or Pakistani rupees.

October

October 1: President Karzai spoke as a guest at a Labour party conference in Bournemouth, England.

October 2: In Kabul, two Canadian peacekeepers (Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger) were killed and three were injured by a landmine.

October 3: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage visited Kabuland Kandahar to discuss the U.S.-led War on Terrorism.

October 4: Near the Bagram Air Base north of Kabul, at least six people were killed and seven others injured in a massive explosion caused by people dismantling a cluster bomb.

October 5: President Karzai suggested publicly that he would seek the presidency in the June 2004 elections.

October 7: ISAF peacekeepers and Afghan police arrested Abu Bakr on suspicions of planning terrorist attacks and killing two Canadian soldiers on October 2.

October 8: Afghan Central Bank governor Anwar Ul-Haq Ahadi decreed that all prices in the Afghan marketplace would be specified in Afghanis.

October 9: Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Jalali flew from Kabul to Mazari Sharif to oversee a truce signed between Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammad.

October 10: About 40 prisoners including Taliban members escaped through a tunnel at the jail in Kandahar. 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 to where the earth was removed to create the 30 metre tunnel.

October 11: The governing council of Nangarhar province banned a Pashto language newspaper (named Khabrona) published in Peshawar, Pakistan because of its pro-Taliban stance.

October 12: In Zabul province, eight policemen were killed when around 100 insurgents attacked government offices. District offices were torched and four vehicles destroyed.

October 13: The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to expand the ISAF mission beyond Kabul.

October 14: In the Bakwa district of Farah 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 Secretary Don Evans visited some sites in Kabul. While visiting a girls' school he relayed a message to the schoolgirls from President George 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 linking Khost province with Gardez 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 Minister Jean Chrétien said that Canadian troops would not be sent beyond Kabul, despite United Nations Security Council plans to expand peacekeeping operations.

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.

October 21: The Afghan government confirmed that former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil had been released from U.S. custody at Bagram Air Base. Taliban leadership promptly denounced Mutawakil.

October 22: In the first three days of a demilitarization program in Kunduz, more than 600 Afghan militiamen surrendered their weapons to the government.

October 23: Rebels fired rockets at a pickup truck ferrying passengers to Haibak in Samangan province, killing 10 people, including two children.

October 24: Germany's Bundestag voted to send German troops to Kunduz, Afghanistan. The deployment marked the first time that ISAF soldiers operated outside of Kabul.

October 25: In Khost province, two classrooms of a co-ed school were completely destroyed by an explosion.

October 26: During a visit to Mazari Sharif, Balkh province, Afghan interior minister Ali 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 of Kandahar (Mohammed Akram, an ethnic Pashtun) 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.

October 28: In Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced that the number of Afghan refugees returning to Afghanistan from Iran has just passed 600,000 and the number returning from Pakistan had just topped 1.9 million.

October 29: The Afghan Supreme Court condemned Vida Samadzai competing as Miss Afghanistan at the Miss Earth beauty pageant, saying such a display of the female body goes against Islamic law and Afghan culture.

October 30: In a small hamlet near the village of Aranj in the Waygal district of Nuristan 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 in Kabul at the time. The raid was aimed at Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Mullah 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.

October 31: In Sar-i-Pul province, fighting broke out between forces of General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ustad Atta Mohammed, killing at least ten.

November

November 2: Beginning a week-long trip, a delegation of fifteen United Nations Security Council members arrived in Kabul from Islamabad 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 from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, People's Republic of China, Guinea and Syria.

November 3: The United Nations Security Council delegation that arrived in Afghanistan on November 2 visited Herat but could not meet with governor Ismail Khan because he was out of town.

November 5: The United Nations Security Council delegation visited Mazari Sharif and met with Tajik warlord Ustad Atta Mohammad and Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum. The Afghan leaders pledged to end their feud.

November 6: In Kabul, unidentified gunmen murdered Shireen Agha Salangi, a former Afghan Northern Alliancecommander who later switched sides to fight alongside the Taliban.

November 7: The United Nations Security Council delegation that arrived in Afghanistan on November 2 returned to New York.

November 8: A group of rebels fired rockets at U.S.-led coalition forces in Kunar province. Coalition soldiers responded with small arms and aerial fire.

November 9: Miss Afghanistan Vida Samadzai won the Miss Earth pageant's first "beauty for a cause" award.

November 10: U.S. soldiers killed one rebel in a clash in the Marzeh district of Nuristan 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.

November 11: Five Afghan civilians were injured in a mine blast close to the Bagram Air Base.

November 12: A new television station, Aina ("Mirror"), started test broadcasts from Sheberghan. 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 the Dari, Pashtu, Uzbek and Turkmen languages.

November 13: In Spin Boldak, unidentified men on a motorbike handed Reuters an audio cassette of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. On it, Omar admonished commanders who have given up the jihad.

November 14: Three U.N. employees in Paktia 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 the Barmal District of Paktika Province.

November 16: In Ghazni Province, two men on a motorcycle opened fire on a UNHCR vehicle, killing Bettina Goislard, a French U.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.

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 in Kabul amid warnings that al Qaeda might launch a suicide bomb attack. Three South Korean diplomats were evacuated to Pakistan. South Korea had 200 troops serving in Afghanistan.

November 19: Two 107-millimetre rockets attached to a car battery were discovered by Canadians in a palace near Camp Julien. The rockets were pointed toward Camp Julien, allegedly in anticipation of Canadian Defence Minister John McCallum's visit the following day.

November 20: Near Ghazni, on the Kabul to Kandahar road, gunmen kidnapped and later released an Afghan driver working with a U.N.-led de-mining operation, stealing his car, money and documents.

November 21: In Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Turkmenistan defeated Afghanistan 11-0 in an Asian zone preliminary World Cup qualifier.

November 22: Armed men rob four or five U.N. staff and other patrons at the Shang Hai restaurant in Kabul.

November 23: Near the village of Shukhi in the Kapisa province, a U.S. MH-53 Pave Low helicopter crashed shortly after leaving Bagram Air Base, killing five U.S. soldiers. Eight soldiers also were wounded. The troops were part of the 16th Special Operations Wing and were participating in Operation Mountain Resolve. It was later determined that the cause of the accident was engine failure.

November 24: In Kabul, Turkmenistan defeated Afghanistan 2-0 in an Asian zone preliminary World Cup qualifier.

November 25: DHL halted its five-day-per-week delivery services to Afghanistan to carry out a security review. Service resumed November 28.

November 26: During maneuvres of Operation Mountain Resolve, U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan were attacked. OneAfghan National Army soldier and two U.S. soldiers were wounded.

November 27: United States Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed spent Thanksgiving in Afghanistan.

November 28: NATO agreed to take command of PRTs in five Afghan towns that were currently protected by Operation 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 in Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan.

November 29: President Karzai met John Abizaid, the head of the U.S. Central Command, in Kabul. Their agenda included the prevention of militants infiltrating from Pakistan.

December

December 1: A Provincial Reconstruction Team composed of over 50 U.S. troops were deployed to Herat to foster security and carry out relief projects in Herat province, Farah province, Badghis province and Ghor province.

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, while Ustad 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 in Kandahar, injuring two U.S. soldiers, another policeman and a local bystander. One of the soldiers lost his leg. The attacker was arrested.

December 4: In the Chakaw region of Farah province, at least one Afghan working for the U.N. Central Statistics Department was killed and 11 wounded when attackers opened fire on their convoy.

December 5: Men burst into the office of a Turkish 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.

December 6: A bomb wounded at least 18 people in the main market in the Chawk Shida district of Kandahar. 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. President Hamid Karzai laid blamed the Taliban, but Taliban spokesman Mullah Abdul Samad denied any involvement, saying: "Taliban do no attack civilian targets." A later controlled explosion by U.S. troops caused additional panic in the city.

December 7: Two Turkish workers were kidnapped as they worked on a well-digging project just outside Kabul, 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 near Muqur, Ghazni]. Mullah Sabir Momin, the Taliban's deputy operations commander in southern Afghanistan, said the men were attacked because they were "American agents."

December 9: UNICEF launched its final round of polio immunization in Afghanistan for 2003. 25,000 volunteers in 19 provinces administer polio vaccine to 3.4 million children under the age of five.

December 10: With no official explanation, the start of the constitutional loya 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 a prime minister as well as a president.

December 11: In an interview, Zabul province Deputy Governor Mulvi Mohammad Omar said that five of the area's eight districts were now under the indirect control of Taliban sympathizers.

December 12: The UN' special representative to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, stated that the U.N. would have to pull out of the nation if security did not improve.

December 14: by a majority vote, Sabghatullah Mujadidi was elected as chairman of the loya jirga. Mujadidi stated to the press that he favored a strong president backed by a strong parliament, and that he sought a moderate form of Islam.

December 15: An explosion was reported in Wardak province.

December 16: Three rockets landed in populated areas of Kabul, but there were no casualties.

December 17: During the fourth day of the Loya 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 the Northern Alliance. Also Malalai Juya denounced some of her colleagues as war criminals, prompting some delegates to demanded 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.

December 18: Scores of Loya 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.

December 21: Two rockets were fired into Kabul. There were no casualties.

December 22: A review of Afghanistan published by the International 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's gross domestic product.

December 23: U.S. and Afghan forces searched the home of Hamidullah Khan Tokhi, a former governor of Zabul province, and seized 60 AK-47 rifles.

December 24: Loya jirga council chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddedi said the delegate groups were ready to present possible amendments.

December 25: In Kabul, a bomb exploded outside a house used by U.N. staff, demolishing a wall and shattering windows. The blast occurred about 5 miles from the Kabul University, where the Loya jirga was taking place.

December 26: In Deh Sabz, Afghan and ISAF troops arrested seven men suspected of carrying out recent rocket attacks on Kabul. The men were not armed but posters of Osama 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.

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 included Abdul Jalal, the head of Afghan Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim's personal security. Several other people were critically injured in the blast. Mullah Abdul Samad, a Taliban spokesman, took responsibility for the blast and said the attack had been carried out by a 35-year-old from Chechnya, but later Taliban leaderHamid Agha stated that Samad was not their spokesman.

December 29: The Afghan Ambassador to Australia, Mahmoud Saikal, called on the twenty four asylum seekers in Nauru to end their week long hunger strike.

December 30: India donated 300 military vehicles, including military trucks, jeeps and ambulances, to the Afghan National Army.

December 31: In Shkin 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.

References

  1. ^ Reuters, Jan. 29, 2003
  2. ^ "UN-govt body to monitor Afghan polls". Daily Times (Pakistan). July 28, 2003. Archived from the original on 2009-05-14. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_28-7-2003_pg7_1. Retrieved 2008-02-09. 
  3. ^ Mcgirk, Tim (2003-10-27). "Battle in "the Evilest Place"". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,526466,00.html. Retrieved 2010-02-09. 
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