- Timeline of Afghanistan (February 2003)
__NOTOC__This is a
timeline of the history of Afghanistan in February 2003. The list is not complete and you are welcome to expand it."Saturday,
February 1 ,2003 "The
Afghan Presidential Protective Service began assisting U.S. agents to protect Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai .The U.S. base in
Gardez ,Afghanistan was designated as the location of a coordination center for reconstruction projects in the region.Eight people were arrested in connection with an explosion that destroyed a minibus in southern Afghanistan on
January 31 , killing 15."Sunday,
February 2 ,2003 "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."Monday,
February 3 ,2003 "A private memo was sent from Canadian deputy chief, Vice-Admiral Greg Maddison to the chief of the Canadian defense staff, Gen. Ray Henault, saying 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.Nabil Okal , anIsrael i military court sentenced aPalestinian man to 27 years in prison for training inAfghanistan withal-Qaeda . Okal said he was innocent.The
U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime reported thatAfghanistan remained the world's largest producer ofopium poppy despite efforts to stop trade and cultivation.U.S. troops with the 82nd Airborne Division completed clearing more than 75 caves in the Adi Ghar mountain of
Afghanistan ."Tuesday,
February 4 ,2003 "Afghan government forces clashed with suspected
Taliban andal-Qaeda fighters in the mountainous area ofShawali Kot north of the city ofKandahar . Two DutchF-16 aircraft bombed the cave complex as part of a follow-up to the attack.Twenty female teachers from
Afghanistan began a one-month training course at five women's universities inJapan . The program was sponsored by the Foreign Ministry-affiliated Japan International Cooperation Agency."Wednesday,
February 5 ,2003 "Helge Boes , aCIA counterterrorism officer, was killed and two wounded in a grenade accident during a live fire exercise in easternAfghanistan ."Thursday,
February 6 ,2003 "Within 500-700 yards of the perimeter of
Bagram air base , factional fighting flared up between rival Afghan groups. The fighting involved mortar or rocket-propelled grenade fire as well as small arms.The
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers and the head of the U.S. Permanent Mission, AmbassadorKevin Moley , signed agreements for U.S. contributions for humanitarian needs of $15 million forAfghanistan and $12.1 million forIraq ."Friday,
February 7 ,2003 "United States troops were fired upon while they were searching a compound southwest ofGardez, Afghanistan in an early morning operation following an intelligence report. There were no casualties on either side.Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a security post in Chotu village,
Helmand Province ,Afghanistan , killing five Afghan soldiers and kidnapping two others.Kabul residents reported a man on a bicycle dispersed leaflets from a previously unknown Islamic group (called Pious Mujahideen (holy warriors) of Islam) demanding the immediate departure of U.S.-led forces fromAfghanistan and a return to a strict Islamic dress code for women.A report by the Post-Conflict Assessment Unit of the
United Nations Environment Programme revealed that 99% of theSistan wetlands inAfghanistan andIran were dried out.Rebels attacked an Afghan army post on the Ayub Mama post in
Helmand Province ,Afghanistan near thePakistan i border, killing five soldiers and wounding four others. Two Afghan soldiers were also abducted.Twenty-five men arrived at
Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay inCuba , pushing the number of terror suspects at the naval base to about 650. The arrivals came a day afterThe Pentagon reported a recent rise insuicide attempts among detainees at the base."Saturday,
February 8 ,2003 "German Defense Minister
Peter Struck said that US Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld had assured Struck that he would support the German proposal forNATO to take over.A bomb exploded in a medical plaza a half-mile from a provincial governor's mansion in
Jalalabad ,Afghanistan . One person was hurt."Sunday,
February 9 ,2003 "On the orders of Afghan President
Hamid Karzai , 138 people, including 72 members of theTaliban , 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.Afghanistan launched a campaign to recruit more women for training at the national police academy inKabul . Priority was to be given to women who were denied education opportunities under Afghanistan's former Taleban rulers. To date, There were 29 women among the nearly 1,500 students undergoing training."Monday,
February 10 ,2003 "Afghanistan became the 89th nation to join theInternational Criminal Court . The ratification will take effectMay 1 ,2003 . The court will prosecute those accused ofgenocide ,crimes against humanity andwar crimes . It will intervene only when a country is unable or lacks the political will to carry out the trail.In the Baghran mountains of
Afghanistan , U.S. soldiers looking for weapons were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns; they sustained no casualties. Air support was requested, and coalitionF-16 s dropped five 500 pound bombs. Eyewitnesses said 13 people had been killed in the bombing. The US claims that the only civilian confirmed injured was an eight-year-old son of a suspectedTaliban fighter. The boy was taken to the US military base at Kandahar (onFebruary 14 ,2003 ) for treatment of shrapnel wounds to the face and leg and was in stable condition.Germany and theNetherlands took over joint command of the international peace-keeping force inAfghanistan . The command was handed over by Turkey?s Maj-GenHilmi Akin Zorlu during a ceremony at a secondary school in theKabul . Dignitaries present included Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai , German Defense MinsterPeter Struck , and the Dutch Defense MinisterBenk Korthals . As Lt-GenNorbert Van Heyst vowed to maintain law and order, a rocket landed a hundred meters from a German base in Kabul. Struck was taken to shelter during the visit to Kabul when two rockets landed in his vicinity. To date, The German contingent in the peacekeeping force numbered about 2,500. The Turkish contingent numbered about 1,400, but was likely to be reduced to 160 men.In
Khost Province ,Afghanistan , a U.S. base came under rocket fire. Three rockets struck less than a kilometer from the base, but there was no damage.A 22-year-old Afghan man was airlifted to the U.S. airbase in
Bagram after suffering gunshot wounds. There were no details of how the man was shot, but he was said to be in a serious condition."Tuesday,
February 11 ,2003 "United States bombers fired laser-guided bombs at 25 armedTaliban suspects near the village of Lejay in the Baghran valley. Afghan authorities said that the raids had killed 17 civilians."Wednesday,
February 12 ,2003 "Canada said it would send up to 2,000 troops (consisting of a battle group and a brigade headquarters) toAfghanistan later in the year to bolster theUnited 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 foral Qaeda orTaliban operatives from Afghanistan.Afghan President
Hamid Karzai urged he international community not to abandon Afghanistan in the event of aUnited States -led war onIraq . Such a move, he told theBBC , would lead to instability not just in Afghanistan, but within the region.Key members of the U.S. Senate criticized the Bush administration for glossing over difficulties it still faces in
Afghanistan . Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar said the administration appeared to be losing interest in Afghanistan.The British announced that they had granted political asylum to three former
Taliban fighters. None of the fighters had engaged in direct combat with British or U.S. troops."Thursday,
February 13 ,2003 "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.The
United States Congress stepped in to find $295M in humanitarian and reconstruction funds forAfghanistan after the Bush administration failed to request any money in the latest budget. In its budget proposal for 2003, theWhite House did not ask for any money to aid humanitarian and reconstruction costs in Afghanistan. The chairman of the committee that distributes foreign aid,Jim Kolbe , said that when he asked administration officials why they had not requested any funds, he was given no satisfactory explanation. The $295M was not even close to the $825M promised in a bill signed by Bush in December 2002.Another detainee attempted suicide at
Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay inCuba . It was the 16th attempted suicide there since detentions began."Friday,
February 14 ,2003 "In
Kabul, Afghanistan , 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 GeneralBasir Falangi said authorities were investigating and vowed to find the robbers.Suspected
Taliban remnants fired two rockets into the southern Afghan town ofSpin Boldak , but there were no casualties. A third rocket landed near a Pakistani border post."Saturday,
February 15 ,2003 "United States Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld said that the Bush administration continued to hold the belief thatAfghanistan still belonged to the Afghans. He said US forces were in the Afghanistan to promote the goal of long-term stability and independence through the development of local institutions. In response to concerns over the United States shifting its focus ontoIraq , he said that whatever else happens in the world, the US would not abandon Afghanistan.U.S. Lt. Gen.
Dan McNeill met separately with Afghan presidentHamid Karzai and village eldersHelmand Province to discuss a coalition assault a week earlier that allegedly left several civilians dead. Karzai expressed concerns for the safety of civilians in operations carried out by US-led military coalition hunting for Islamic militants. Local officials and villagers inHelmand Province have said that at least 17 civilians, mostly women and children, had been killed in coalition bombing raids in the mountainous region that week. The U.S. military said that only an eight-year-old boy was wounded in the operation, and added that coalition forces had the right to self-defense."Sunday,
February 16 ,2003 "In
Balochistan, Pakistan , strong winds and heavy rains caused a wall to collapse in a Latifabadrefugee 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 will distribute 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.United Nations officials in Kabul said that rains brought signs of recovery in southernAfghanistan , where reservoirs are filling up in drought ravaged Kandahar and Helmand provinces.Afghanistan andUNICEF announced a program to re-train thousands of teachers, particularly women forced out of work during theTaliban regime. About 70,000 teachers across 29 of the country's 32 provinces will begin to receive the on-the-job training in the coming weeks. Teachers will be instructed on new ways to teachDari andPashtu . They will also be trained to teach awareness of the dangers of landmines.The
United Nations said that authorities were looking for new housing for 100 impoverished families who recently moved into cliff-side caves that surround the famed Buddha statues destroyed by theTaliban in centralAfghanistan .Rebel attackers fired two rockets near the U.S. base in
Shkhin ,Afghanistan . No casualties or damage was reported.The
United Nations World Food Program began to distribute to the Afghan people 10,000 mt of fortified high-energy biscuits recently donated by the Indian government. Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai inaugurated the program by distributing biscuits to schoolchildren of theAmani High School inKabul .Three children drowned when they were swept away by flood waters near
Kandahar ,Afghanistan ."Monday,
February 17 ,2003 "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 theBritish Museum , paid for the renovation, and British soldiers partook in the work.Japan promised photographic equipment,Greece was to rebuild one wing, theAsian Foundation was to develop an inventory, and the U.S. pledged more money for a restoration department.United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was to work on the windows and water supply.Officials in
Kunduz Province ,Afghanistan ordered the closure of video shops. The order was in response to Western and Indian films that contained violence and nudity.A statement sent to
Pakistan i newspapers urged Afghans to wage a holy war against U.S. forces and the U.S.-backed Afghan government. The statement was attributed to fugitiveTaliban chief MullahMohammed Omar .An avalanche triggered by heavy rains killed two people and injured four others in
Kunar Province Afghanistan . Avalanches and heavy snow blocked theSalang Tunnel in northern Afghanistan.The international airport in
Kabul ,Afghanistan reopened after being shut down the day before because of heavy snow.U.S. special forces troops came under fire near
Asadabad ,Afghanistan , were no one was hurt."Tuesday,
February 18 ,2003 "A fire swept through an observation post outside the
United States headquarters outside the US military Bagram Air Base, forcing a quick evacuation. The cause of the fire was not known. No one was injured.A lone gunman opened fire on
United States Special Forces inUrgun, Afghanistan . No one was hurtThe
United Nations confirmed reports of newTaliban training camps in easternAfghanistan .An 81-year old man from
Ohio ,Daniel Chick , armed with two pistols and dressed in military-style pants and sweater, was briefly detained inHaifa, Israel . He told police that he was on his way toAfghanistan in hopes of hunting downOsama bin Laden and claiming a $25 million bounty. He was trying to board a boat forCyprus . To avoid facing charges after appearing before a judge, Chick agreed to give up his weapons and leave Israel. Allegedly, after leaving theUnited States , Chick made stops inGermany to visit his daughter andItaly , where he caught a flight to Israel. His attorney wasGideon Costa .The
International Organization for Migration office inKunduz ,Afghanistan was bombed. No one was injured."Wednesday,
February 19 ,2003 "Operation Viper began asUnited States CH-47 Chinook helicopters carrying US troops touched down inHelmand Province in southernAfghanistan . Their mission was to hunt downTaliban leaders believed hiding there.The
United States designated former Afghan Prime MinisterGulbuddin Hekmatyar as a global terrorist after tying him to acts of terror committed byal-Qaida and theTaliban . U.S. financial institutions were ordered to freeze all financial assets belonging to Mr. Hekmatyat.The
United States agreed to provide US$60 million toAfghanistan to train a national police force and to wipe out drugs. The agreement for the projects was signed byZalmay Rassoul and U.S. ambassador to KabulRobert Finn .Japan agreed to provide $35 million for a project to disarm militias inAfghanistan . To date, it was estimated that there were between 150,000 and 200,000 militiamen in Afghanistan. The aid was to be used to build facilities aimed at providing discharged soldiers with an education and employment training.Near
Gardez ,Afghanistan , a U.S. soldier was injured when the military vehicle he was traveling in struck a landmine. The soldier's right foot was blown off by the explosion.A lone gunman opened fire on U.S. Special Forces in
Urgun ,Afghanistan ."Thursday,
February 20 ,2003 "President
Hamid Karzai leftKabul, Afghanistan for a four-nation tour (Japan ,Malaysia , theUnited States , andIndia ). Karzai is accompanied by Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah and a high-level official delegation.In
Washington, DC ,NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson discussed a proposal that in the summer of 2003 NATO might assistCanada when it took over from theNetherlands andGermany in peacekeeping operations inAfghanistan . "We’ll be examining that over the next few weeks," he said "to see whether there is a consensus on it, whether it makes sense, how best the job can be done."Thirty
United States soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division’s405th Parachute Infantry Regiment marched toEngran, Afghanistan . After setting up sniper positions, soldiers entered the village. They told village elderHaji Abdul Had that they had come as part of the Afghan government’s disarmament efforts. In an orchard behind a compound, soldiers found twoAK-47 assault rifles beneath a wet burlap sack. The village elder said some families kept guns for their own security. The soldiers confiscated the arms. The soldiers searched four other villages, but found nothing else. Another platoon searching separate villages nearby seized 27 AK-47s.Seeking more ethnic balance,
Afghanistan 's Defense MinisterMohammed Fahim announced that it replaced 15 ethnic Tajik generals and created a new, high-level post. The ousted generals were replaced by officers from thePashtun , Uzbek and Hazara ethnic groups. The new position of a fourth deputy defense minister was given to Gen.Gul Zarak Zadran , a Pashtun.Abdul Rashid Dostum kept his post as one of the four deputy ministers. The ousted generals will be given other jobs within the ministry.In
Kabul ,Afghanistan a new commission was formed to further evaluate the proposed laws and present its findings to the cabinet. The commission includedAbdul Rahim Karimi ,Enayatullah Nazari ,Abdul Salam Azimi ,Musa Ashari , andMusa Marufi .In
Kabul ,Afghanistan a commission headed by Information and Culture MinisterSayyed Makhdum Rahin was formed to oversee theMarch 21 celebrations of Nawruz (Norouz ), the Afghan New Year."Friday,
February 21 ,2003 "Afghan President
Hamid Karzai arrived inTokyo, 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 beyondKabul . 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 100,000 irregular troops still need to disarm. Japan is the second largest donor nation of Afghanistan after the United States.Canada announced it would not able to run peacekeeping operations inAfghanistan alone later this year, and asked forNATO help. Canada will send a battlegroup and a brigade-level headquarters to Afghanistan in August, 2003 to take over command of the 4,000 memberUnited Nations force. Canada's commitment could involve as many as 2,800 troops on each of two six-month rotations. The general in charge of international security policy in the Canadian Department of Defense resigned over the decision.David Singh , the public information officer for theUnited Nations Assistance Mission inAfghanistan , warned staff to take precautions following anonymous threats warning of increased retaliation in the context of the possibility of war between theUnited States andIraq .In a press conference,
United States Military spokesman ColonelRoger King said that in the last 24-hoursOperation Viper brought about the detention of seven more suspectedTaliban members, bringing the number during the mission up to about 25. King also said that there was no indication that aland mine this week that blew off the foot of a US soldier nearGardez, Afghanistan was planted recently or was targeted at US patrol.German Defense Minister
Peter Struck saidGermany could withdraw its 2,500 troops from the 4,700 strongInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF) inAfghanistan if a war inIraq began and escalated tensions in the region.Pakistan donated arms and ammunition to the
Afghan National Army , signifying an attempt to strengthenPakistan ’s influence in the post-Taliban government inAfghanistan . The weapons include 5000submachine gun s, 180 mortars, 75rocket-propelled grenade launchers and 10,000mortar bomb s. Pakistan will also help train Afghan army personnel.The managing director of
Sui Southern Gas Company reported thatPakistan needed to finalize one natural gas import pipeline project by the end of 2003 to meet soaring gas demands in the years ahead. The three projects under discussion included an Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline, and a Qatar-Pakistan pipeline.A 35-year-old U.S. Army master sergeant suffered a head injury when wind from a twin-rotor
CH-47 Chinook helicopter swept up a wooden pallet that struck him at an airfield inKandahar, Afghanistan . He was flown to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center inGermany for emergency treatment. He survived.U.S. forces apprehended seven suspected enemy fighters in
Helmand Province ,Afghanistan ."Saturday,
February 22 ,2003 "A one-day international donors' conference to help Afghan President
Hamid Karzai tighten control overAfghanistan took place inTokyo, 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 outsideKabul, Afghanistan .In
Islamabad, Pakistan , Afghan Minister for Petroleum and MinesJuma Mohammad Mohammadi and other administrators fromPakistan andAfghanistan agreed to inviteIndia to take part in a potential $2.5 billion gas pipeline project to connect the states.Fighting between supporters of Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum and rival Gen.
Atta Mohammed broke out nearMaymana , the capital ofFaryab Province . The two sides battled with machine guns, rocket launchers and artillery. Six civilians — including one man, two women and three children — were killed in the crossfire.In
Tokyo, Japan Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai secured $51 million in aid for Afghanistan fromJapan ($35M), theUnited States ($10M), theUnited Kingdom andCanada ($2.2M).A massive fire swept through a food and fuel warehouse in the central bazaar in
Jalalabad . Six cars, plus large quantities of motor oil, flour, mayonnaise and other commodities were consumed by the fire.The
Tawain ese Department of Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance announced that Afghanistan was included in a list of eleven countries being given ‘second-tier’ tariff rates in hopes of facilitating trade development."Sunday,
February 23 ,2003 "A
International Committee of the Red Cross project started inBamyan that provided women with vegetable seeds and training to tend family plots more productively.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 inUruzgan Province ,Afghanistan . The clash also left one enemy fighter dead and another wounded.In a new report entitled "Disaster Management Framework for Afghanistan," the
United Nations urgedAfghanistan to draw up plans to respond to natural disasters. Achieving that capacity would likely take at least 10 years, the report said.About five alleged
Taliban fighters fired Afghan security forces about 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Kandahar inZabol Province near thePakistan i border. The ensuing fire exchange left one of the attackers dead. Security force commanderHaji Wazir Mohammed was seriously wounded.A truck full of American military supplies including sandbags and a generator struck a landmine about 200 yards south of
Bagram Air Base . No casualties were reported.A U.S. military convoy in the vicinity ofWazir, Afghanistan drew small arms fire from two armed men at approximately noon while attempting to secure a compound.The
United Nations called on donors to help fund the repatriation of an expected 1.2 millionAfghan refugees in the coming year. The repatriation will beginMarch 2 and is expected to cost US$195 million, but, to date donors had only provided US$15.4 million.Seven
Taliban suspects with a stock of arms and land mines were arrested at a house inKandahar ."Monday,
February 24 ,2003 "Afghan Minister for Mines and Industries
Juma Mohammad Mohammadi andPakistan foreign ministry officialMohammad Farhad Ahmed were among eight people on board aCessna plane that crashed into theArabian Sea shortly after takeoff. The aircraft was headed forBalochistan, Pakistan near the Iranian border. Also on board the aircraft were three other Afghan officials, two crew members andSun Changsheng ,CEO ofMCC 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 inKarachi at the time of the crash. The plane had crossed into a Pakistan military "no-fly zone" before it crashed into the sea.Jean-Marie Guéhenno , the undersecretary-general in charge ofUnited Nations peacekeeping, called for immediate measures to improve security inAfghanistan , where international aid agencies have been threatened by kidnappings and violence. Guehenno referred to a series of recent incidents, including mine and grenade attacks inKandahar andKunduz , 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 thatGermany plans to pull its peacekeepers out ofAfghanistan if there is war inIraq .The
Asian Development Bank announced plans to provide about US$200 million in financial assistance for the reconstruction ofAfghanistan this year. $150 million is earmarked for infrastructure rehabilitation; $50 million is earmarked for agriculture.The road between
Gardez andKhost was cut off by supporters of warlordBacha Khan Zadran after local officials seized a dozen of his militiamen's vehicles. Paktia Gov.Raz Mohammad Dalili sent a delegation of elders to try to resolve the problem.Norwegian troops were sent to
Afghanistan for a three-month tour. The soldiers included a mix of commandos from theNorway 's army and navy with training in winter and mountain warfare, and mine-clearing personnel. The exact number of troops wasn't revealed. Norway also announced that it would pull out its sixF-16 fighters by the end of March, 2003.An explosive device went off near the home of Education Minister
Dawood Barak inKandahar, Afghanistan .Afghanistan 's PresidentHamid Karzai arrivedMalaysia for a Non-Aligned Movement summit.Telephone Systems International purchased (EUR)4 million worth of GSM switching equipment fromSiemens Mobile Communications . The equipment, including aSiemens switch , would support TSI's subsidiary, theAfghan Wireless Communication Company . The switch would be installed inKabul .Five
Taliban suspects were arrested by Afghan forces at a hotel inSpin Boldak ,Afghanistan ."Tuesday,
February 25 ,2003 "Habibullah Jan , a district administrator inNimroz Province in Dilaram, 135 miles northwest of Kandahar,Afghanistan , was assassinated. Jan's body guard was wounded in the attack.According to the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC ), about 3,400 tons ofopium were produced inAfghanistan in 2002, making it the largest opium producer in the world, followed byMyanmar andLaos . The report also stated that more than three quarters of the heroin sold inEurope originated in Afghanistan. The UNODC called on Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai to take a tougher stance on the production of the illegal crops.Two US security posts northwest of
Bagram Air Base reported seeing and hearing approximately 14 mortar rounds being fired, as factional fighting broke out just before dawn.The Afghan government found a giant cache of weapons including mortars, missiles and anti-tank land mines in an abandoned compound in the eastern Nangarhar region, near the border with
Pakistan . Mortars, AK-41 anti-tank land mines, BM-12 Chinese-made missiles and munition rounds were found when troops searched the compound in Bander district, 70 kilometers (45 miles) south ofJalalabad .Five were
Taliban suspects were arrested at a hotel in the town ofSpin Boldak near thePakistan border.A British Secret Intelligence officer killed two Afghans with a Makarov pistol during a shootout at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul. The shootout was sparked by the two Afghans pulling a gun in an attempt to abduct him. The British man, identified as Colin Berry, was also shot in the abdomen during the exchange of fire. Berry had been operating in Afghanistan for several months previously on covert operations in relation to Opium trafficking. He was also actively engaged in the tracing and recovery of Stinger (U.S), Blowpipe (U.K) and Soviet Surface to Air launchers and missiles .After the incident Berry was assisted by U.S Special Forces operatives that he had been working alongside. He was taken to the 'Italian War Victims' hospital for interim treatment whilst a helicopter was organised for a flight to neighbouring Pakistan. During the wait the U.S team was instructed to 'pull back'.As a concequence Berry was discovered and arrested by the Afghan Ministry of Interior - Secret Police. They immediately detained Berry at a secret location for questioning.
"Wednesday,
February 26 ,2003 "Afghan President
Hamid Karzai visited the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee inWashington, DC . 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.Canada announced that it would be unable to make any substantial deployment of ground troops toIraq because of its commitment to peacekeeping inAfghanistan .Two Afghan children injured by mines near the air base that serves as U.S. military headquarters in Bagram, Afghanistan. Both children had limbs amputated.
Afghan forces found a giant cache of weapons including mortars, missiles and anti-tank land mines in an abandoned compound in the Nangarhar region.
"Thursday,
February 27 ,2003 "During a meeting at the
White House , Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai asked PresidentGeorge W. Bush "to do more for us in making the life of the Afghan people better, more stable, more peaceful." Bush said theUnited States had "a desire for human life to improve" in Afghanistan, but offered no public assurances that a war withIraq would not hinder the Afghan recovery.U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
Tommy G. Thompson met with Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai and renewed the department's commitment to promote health in Afghanistan, including training, staffing and working with the U.S. Department of Defense to rebuild a women's hospital inKabul .Rival Afghan commanders squabbling over scrap metal traded mortar fire near the U.S. headquarters near
Bagram .United Nations spokesmanManoel de Almeida e Silva said that the U.N. suspended operations in Gosfandi district ofSar-e Pol Province due to factional skirmishes.Former
Pakistan i Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto told an audience atMaryville University inSt. Louis, Missouri thatAfghanistan still needs the world's attention, which has been diverted to a possible U.S. war againstIraq ."Friday,
February 28 ,2003 "Eight armed men stepped into the road and opened fire on a two-vehicle
United Nations World Food Program convoy at midday as they traveled fromWazahan village toHiraqat , but no injuries were reported.A lone gunman opened fire with an
AK-47 on U.S. soldiers manning a guard post north ofBagram Air Base inAfghanistan , but no casualties were reported.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.United States troops discovered a "bomb-making facility" nearJalalabad, Afghanistan . The troops found the materials after searching five compounds in Shinwar district. Also recovered were three 82 mm mortars, one grenade launcher, five machine-guns, 1,000 mortar rounds, 300 rockets, mines and thousands of ammunition cases.Two rockets found inside a bag exploded near government offices in
Kandahar, Afghanistan . A guard found four rockets hidden in a bag at around 7 a.m. He informed the intelligence department nearby, but two of the rockets exploded before the bomb disposal squad could reach the site, he said. The other two were defused. There were no casualties.An explosive device went off near the home of Education Minister
Dawood Barak in Kandahar.Antonella Deledda , Central Asia representative for theUnited Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, said fromTashkent, Uzbekistan that the steady flow of opium and heroin fromAfghanistan was causing rising drug addiction andAIDS infections across the region, especially inKazakhstan ,Kyrgyzstan andUzbekistan .Ruud Lubbers , theUnited Nations high commissioner for refugees, traveled by road fromKabul toMazari Sharif and met with warlordsAbdul Rashid Dostum ,Atta Mohammed andUstad Sayeedi . Afghan Refugees MinisterInayatullah Nazeri also attended the talks. Lubbers complained about insecurity and ethnic tensions and urge the warlords to unite to help Afghans return to their homes.Afghanistan 's Defense MinisterMohammed Fahim headed toWashington, DC for a six-day trip intended for talks with U.S. Secretary of DefenseDonald Rumsfeld . Also traveling with Fahim was Deputy Defense Minister Gen.Hatiqullah Baryalai . Speaking to the press before his flight leftKabul , Fahim urged the United States to provide more cooperation and financial assistance to rebuild his Afghanistan's national army."See also"
Timeline of the War in Afghanistan:
<< January 2003 | February 2003 | March 2003 >>
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.