Afghanistan timeline March 16-31, 2003: Difference between revisions

May 1, 2003

• The membership of Afghanistan in the International Criminal Court will take effect. After this date, the ICC will have the authority to investigate and prosecute serious war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity committed on Afghan soil.

February 24, 2003

• Afghan Minister for Mines and Industries Juma Mohammad Mohammadi and Pakistani 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 a senior Chinese businessman. 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.
• John-Marie Guehenno, the undersecretary-general in charge of United Nations peacekeeping, called for immediate measures to improve security in Afghanistan, where international aid agencies have been threatened by kidnappings and violence. Guehenno referred to a series of recent incidents, including mine and grenade attacks in Kandahar and Kunduz, and kidnapping threats in Kabul, Jalalabad and Kunar provinces where security had been reinforced. He said contingency plans had been made for a withdrawal of U.N. agencies from certain areas of Afghanistan. He also added that human rights continued to be undermined by poor overall security, including reports of extra-judiciary executions, extortions and forced displacements.
• Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Lobbering, a German spokesman, denied reports that Germany plans to pull its peacekeepers out of Afghanistan if there is war in Iraq.
• The Asian Development Bank announced plans to provide about US$200 million in financial assistance for the reconstruction of Afghanistan this year. $150 million is earmarked for infrastructure rehabilitation; $50 million is earmarked for agriculture.
• Taiwan announced that Afghanistan was included in a list of eleven countries being given ‘second-tier’ tariff rates in hopes of facilitating trade development.

February 23, 2003

• An Afghan soldier working with U.S. special forces was killed and another wounded in a firefight at a compound just east of Tarin Kot in the central province of Uruzgan, Afghanistan. The clash also left one enemy fighter dead and another wounded.
• A truck full of American military supplies including sandbags and a generator struck a mine about 200 yards south of Bagram Air Base. No casualties were reported.

February 22, 2003

• A one-day international donors' conference to help Afghan President Hamid 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.
• In Islamabad, Pakistan, Afghan Minister for Petroleum and Mines Juma Mohammad Mohammadi and other administrators from Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to invite India to take part in a potential $2.5 billion gas pipeline project to connect the states.

October 18, 2001

• United States Special Forces began the ground phase of the US war against terrorism in Afghanistan, operating in small numbers in southern Afghanistan. US government officials said the mission was designed to expand an ongoing CIA effort to encourage ethnic Pashtun leaders to break away from Taliban forces.

October 12, 2001

• United States air attacks continued for a fifth straight day over Afghanistan. Bombers, carrier-based fighter aircraft and Tomahawk cruise missiles struck at multiple targets, including military installations, airports and radio transmitters. Local reports say that Kabul was attacked after 8 PM. Utilizing 5,000 pound, laser-guided bunker buster bombs, US government officials said the aim of the operations was to take out Taliban defensive infrastructure, hit Taliban units on the ground, and take out underground bunkers occupied by Taliban personnel and al Qaeda terrorists.

October 11, 2001

• Reports of United States bombings in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

October 8, 2001

• Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf, warned that if the Northern Alliance came to power on the heels of the United States attacks, Afghanistan would "return to anarchy, atrocities and criminal killings."

October 7, 2001

• A public meeting was held in a Pakistani-Afghani border town denouncing the Taliban regime, calling for the reinstatement of the exiled former king, Zahir Shah. About 10,000 people gathered in a football ground to hear speakers call for a loya jirga. Mahmoud Khan Achhezai was the main speaker.

October 4, 2001

• United States president George W. Bush announced that the US is to provide an extra $320M in aid to help Afghanistan's impoverished people during the coming winter. The money will be spent on food and medicines.

October 3, 2001

• Joe Biden, Chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is expected to proposal legislation for a long-term reconstruction and development plan in Central and South Asia following any military campaign against Afghanistan. The plan would also include Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan.