Timeline of Afghanistan (March 2004)

March 16, 2004

In an iris verification center in Quetta, Pakistan, 174 Afghan refugees were processed. Each refugee older than six years underwent a computerized iris scan to determine if they had previously been checked and received a repatriation package. The refugees then entered Afghanistan through the Chaman border.

Three rockets landed in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. There were no injuries, but windows shattered and some walls crumbled.
Eight suspects were detained by U.S.-led coalition troops southwest of Qalat, Afghanistan.

In Kandahar province, Afghanistan, rebels attacked a government office. In the battle, three rebels and one Afghan National Army soldier were killed.
In the capital of Laghman province, Afghanistan, two rockets landed, killing one civilian.
In Kabul, Afghanistan, a rocket fired flew over a U.N. compound and the U.S. military headquarters. The rocket did not detonate when it landed.
In Kabul, Afghanistan. a rocket flew over the center of the city and exploded on hillside.
U.S.-led troops surprised eight insurgents in caves southwest of Qalat, Afghanistan, prompting a gunbattle in which three of the guerrillas were killed and five others were wounded.
U.S.-led coalition troops detained five rebels in caves southwest of Qalat, Afghanistan. Anti-coalition propaganda was also found.

Dodsal of Dubai, an Indian construction company, signed a US$230 million contract to set up a modern petroleum infrastructure in Afghanistan. The deal entails the construction of 700 retail outlets.
About 2,000 ethnic Hazara supporters of Haji Muhammad Mohaqiq staged a march in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan demanding that president Hamid Karzai re-instate Mohaqiq. On March 7, Karzai removed Mohaqiq from the post of planning minister.
In Tehran, Iran, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari and his Afghan Interior Minister Ahmad Jalali signed a security pact which focused on border protection and the fight against drug trafficking.

The Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan seized 42 tons of cannabis seeds, 22 tons of poppy seeds, 4.3 kilos of heroin and 23 kilos of opium at the entrances to Kabul.

Three rockets were fired at the U.S. base at the airport near Kandahar, Afghanistan. There were no casualties.
The United Nations reported that 28% of the 1.4 million Afghans registered to vote were women. This percentage was up dramatically from the 16% registered in December 2003.

In Ankara, Turkey, Afghan Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Mohammad Fahim Khan met with Turkish National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul.
Using rockets and rifles, at least a dozen rebels attacked the U.S. outpost in Nangalam, Kunar province, Afghanistan. U.S. forces summoned a A-10 Thunderbolt II for assistance. An Afghan civilian was wounded in the crossfire.
In Afganistan, Kabul-area warlords and commanders turned over more than a dozen tanks to the Afghan Defense Ministry, placing them under the control of ISAF and the Afghan National Army.

Human Rights Watch published Enduring Freedom - Abuses by US Forces in Afghanistan, which criticizes the United States' actions in Afghanistan. The report cites excessive force, arbitrary detentions and the mistreating people in custody as prominent abuses.
Under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, volunteer Afghan refugees began repatriation from different parts of Balochistan in Pakistan.
An Afghan National Army soldier was killed and another injured when rebels opened fire from a vehicle at a checkpoint near Maywand, Afghanistan.

Afghan government officials announced that Afghan Planning Minister Haji Muhammad Mohaqiq resigned from the cabinet. Mohaqiq said he was fired after announcing his intention to run against interim president Hamid Karzai in the June 2004 elections. Mohaqiq was replaced by Ramazan Bashardoost.
The United States began Operation Mountain Storm across southern and eastern Afghanistan; the aim was to further destroy the al-Qaida and Taliban infrastructure.

Near Qalat, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Mohammad Isah, a director of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, was murdered by men who stopped his car.
West of Ghazni, Afghanistan, three U.S. soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division were wounded when their vehicle struck a landmine. Three local men were detained.
In Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, three Afghan civilians were killed by U.S. soldiers. The soldiers' vehicle had struck an explosive device.

U.S.-led forces killed nine rebels in a gun battle in near Orgun, Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan.
In the Shah Joy district in Zabul province, Afghanistan, a Turkish engineer and a local security guard were murdered; a second Turkish worker and another local security guard were kidnapped. The Turkish men were working on a project to resurface the Kabul-Kandahar highway.

Rebels attacked a border post in Maruf district in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, killing seven members of the Afghan National Army.
Near Khost, Afghanistan, fourteen suspected militants were captured during a U.S. air assault on a compound.

At a ceremony held in the Chinese embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan Sun Yuxi and Afghan Irrigation, Water Resources and Environment Minister Mohammad Yusuf Nooristani signed a contract detailing China's assistance in a major irrigation re-build project near the capital. The project was supposed to be finished in early 2006.
In a remote border region near Afghanistan, Pakistani authorities detained at least 15 Ahmadzai Wazir tribal leaders for failing to turn over suspected al-Qaida fugitives. The leaders had agreed to help trace foreigners suspected of terrorism but did not live up to the deal.

A voluntary repatriation program for Afghan refugees run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees resumed after a four month hiatus following the murder of a staff member in November.
In Zabul province, Afghan forces arrested four Taliban suspects, including commander Mullah Nahim.
750 policemen from five Afghan provinces began a three-week training course at the Gardez Police Academy to assist in administering a fair election.
In the tribal South Waziristan region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, over a dozen rockets were launched on Pakistani bunkers and checkpoints. The Pakistani troops were engaged in a hunt for Al Qaeda members.

During public ceremonies in Kabul, Afghanistan, of Shia Muslims commemorating the slaying of their leader Imam al-Husayn, an Afghan National Army cadet shouted abusive language and spat at a banner, prompting the Shia Muslims to throw stones at the soldiers. The cadets then fired into the crowd, killing one and injuring sixteen.