December 2003 in Afghanistan
2003 in Afghanistan. A list of notable incidents in Afghanistan during 2003
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.
- Amnesty International reported that the U.S. military had not fulfilled its promise to release findings from an investigation into the deaths of two Afghan prisoners, who died while in U.S. custody at Bagram Air Base, December 3 and December 10, 2002.
- Near a U.S. base at Deh Rawood in Uruzgan province, an Afghan Army soldier fighting alongside U.S. forces was killed while engaged with enemy forces.
- In Khost province, Afghan soldiers destroyed an improvised explosive device.
- U.S. troops in Shkin, Paktika province, destroyed six rockets pointed at their base.
- Voter-registration centers opened in eight Afghan cities, including Jalalabad. Elections were scheduled for June 2004.
- Renegade Afghan warlord Bacha Khan Zadran and his brother Amanullah Khan Zadran were arrested at a border checkpoint in Dirdoni, Pakistan. They were later turned over to Afghan officials February 3, 2003.
December 2: Warlords in northern Afghanistan handed over tanks and cannons to the Afghan Army. Abdul Rashid Dostumgave up just three tanks in the disarmament drive, 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.
- Twenty former asylum seekers arrived in Kabul, (17 from Nauru) and were placed in a guesthouse organized by the Afghan Ministry for Refugees and Repatriation. Over the next ten days, they were repatriated to their homes.
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.
- United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Afghan regional commanders Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ustad Atta Mohammad in Mazar-i-Sharif, and then visited President Karzai in Kabul. Rumsfeld also met, in Mazar, Colonel Dickie Davis, head of a British Provincial Reconstruction Team.
- An explosion caused by a rocket occurred in an open field about half a mile from the U.S. embassy compound in Kabul, but caused no damage or injuries.
- Rebel forces fired on a U.S.-led coalition convoy near Gardez, in Paktia province.
- Several rockets landed near the U.S.-led base in Orgun, Paktika province.
- A bomb exploded outside the compound of a district administration building in Paktika province. The wall of the compound was damaged.
- A rocket struck a school in the village of Matun in Khost province.
- A bomb damaged a bridge in the Mando Zayi District of Khost province.
- Taliban commander Hafiz Abdul Majeed said in an interview with Reuters that Taliban attacks would be stepped up in coming days and warned against attending the constitution loya jirga set for December 10.
- The U.S. military seized a large arms cache hidden in the mail jail of Kandahar.
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.
- Near Gardez in Paktia province, an air and ground attack by U.S. special forces on a compound, used by a rebel commander Mullah Jalani to store munitions, killed six children and two adults.
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.
- After shopping with Afghan colleagues for chickens in Bazargan, Zabul province, two Indian workers were kidnapped by three men armed with machineguns.
- Seven boys, two girls and a 25-year-old man were killed when two U.S. A-10 Thunderbolt II planes fired rockets and bullets into a group of villagers sitting under a tree in Hutala. Mullah Wazir, the intended target, was not at home at the time. U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad stated the next day that Wazir was killed in the attack, but retracted the statement shortly after.
- The U.S. military launched its biggest ever ground operation, Operation Avalanche, across eastern and southern Afghanistan. Over 2,000 soldiers were involved, including four infantry battalions as well as soldiers from the Afghan National Army and militia.
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.
- The World Food Programme and the MRRD met to improve monitoring of food assistance projects in Kunar and Laghman provinces where lack of security restricted UN movement.
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."
- U.S.-led and Afghan forces wounded two rebels and detained 15 in Sayed Karam District, Paktika province.
- To mark the arrival of a new installment of Indian donated biscuits in Afghanistan, Afghan actor and director Hashmat Khan, Indian Ambassador Vivek Katju, Afghan Deputy Education MinisterIshraq Hussaini and the World Food Programme Country Director Susana Rico participated in a ceremony in Kabul. The shipment would provide more than one million school children with nutritious snacks.
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.
- As part of Operation Avalanche, U.S. troops followed by helicopters launched an assault in the mountains of Khost province.
- In Kabul, militia forces, involving more than 1,000 soldiers, began the formal process of turning over to the Afghan government their weapons, including about a half-dozen Russian T-54 and T-55 tanks.
- Through local newspapers and radio reports in Afghanistan, the Taliban threatened to kill participants of the constitutional loya jirga in Kabul.
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.
- In Dalan Sang, warlord Mohammed Fahim ordered part of his militia to transport their weapons (including 11 tanks, 10 rocket-launchers and two scud missiles) to an Afghan National Army installation near Kabul.
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.
- Officials in Tajikistan said to the media that opium production in Afghanistan increased by six percent for the year.
- In response to recent kidnappings of Indian workers in Afghanistan, India sent two Indo-Tibetan Border Police units to its consulate in Kandahar.
- In Jalalabad, at least three bodyguards of commander Esmatullah Muabat and two soldiers of the Jalalabad militia force were in a clash against U.S. soldiers at a maternity hospital as the soldiers tried to arrest Muabat.
- A small bomb exploded in a trash can about a quarter of a mile from the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad, but nobody was injured.
- After 55 days, Italian engineers completed work to prevent the collapse of the cliff walls that house the remaining fragments of the Bamyan Buddhas.
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.
- A videotape was received by the BBC in Pakistan that revealed recent Taliban activities in southern Afghanistan, including a bomb-making facility.
- Citing the delay in the arrival of some delegates, the start of the constitutional loya jirga (re-scheduled for December 12) was delayed until December 13. Human Rights Watch claimed that the constitutional loya jirga was being marred by vote buying, intimidation, and fears that President Karzai would try to force it through the assembly without a proper debate.
- In a move that surprised many, President Karzai named General Abdul Rashid Dostum as one of the delegates to the constitutional loya jirga. Dostum was originally elected as a delegate to represent Uzbeks, but he was later disqualified because of a rule banning military commanders from the delegate elections. Karzai got around the ban by including Dostum in the 50 delegates he was allowed to appoint to the 500-member assembly.
December 14: by a majority vote, Sabghatullah Mujadidi was elected as chairman of 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.
- An explosion was reported in Jalalabad.
- A dhow stopped by U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf was found to be carrying nearly $10 million in hashish. The drug traffickers were transferred to the Bagram Air Base.
December 16: Three rockets landed in populated areas of Kabul, but there were no casualties.
- Near the village of Durrani southwest of Kabul, President Karzai dedicated a new 300-mile road connecting Kabul to Khandahar. At the ceremony were U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali. Hundreds of U.S. and Afghan soldiers stood guard along the route to the ceremony.
- At a ceremony held at its headquarters in Qala-e Fathollah, the Hezb-e Jomhorikhahan party expressed its support for a presidential system in the future constitution of Afghanistan.
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 demand her removal from the council and sparking some death threats. Juya was later placed under U.N. protection for her safety. Foreign journalists were barred from covering the session.
- During a search at a checkpoint near a border crossing, more than four Pashtuns were arrested by Pakistani security forces as they tried to smuggle 500 kilograms of explosives into Afghanistan.
- In the mountainside of Kabul, Canadian soldiers delivered Christmas boxes to hundreds of displaced families.
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.
- U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers and comedian Robin Williams visited U.S. troops in Bagram Airbase.
- Loya jirga delegates divided into 10 groups to debate the Proposed Afghan Constitution article by article.
December 20: Taliban officials offered to release two Indian engineers kidnapped December 6 in exchange for 50 militants. The engineers would not be released until March 2004.
- Loya jirga chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddedi announced that nine of the ten delegate groups had concluded their talks and that their proposed amendments would soon be put to a vote.
- In Shehroba, at least five Afghan soldiers were killed and commander Naik Mohammad was wounded in a Taliban attack.
- Two Afghan Army soldiers were killed when a vehicle in a military convoy hit a remote controlled bomb along the road between Khost and Kabul.
- Two dhows stopped by U.S. warships in the Arabian Sea were found to be carrying what appeared to be heroin and methamphetamines. The drug traffickers were transferred to Bagram Air Base.
December 21: Two rockets were fired into Kabul. There were no casualties.
- In Kabul, a 10-day cultural and art exhibition of the Islamic Republic of Iran was inaugurated. On hand were Iran's ambassador to Afghanistan Mohammad Reza Bahrami and Afghanistan's Minister of Information and Culture Seyed Makhdum Rahin.
- U.S. General David Barno, the new coalition commander in Afghanistan, outlined changes in the strategy to improve security.
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.
- Fourteen Taliban suspects were arrested by U.S. and Afghan forces in the Dara Bagh area in Zabul province. Sixteen AK-47 rifles and five heavy machine-guns were seized.
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.
- Two Indian engineers, abducted December 6 by suspected Taliban, were released without conditions.
- The World Bank approved a US$95 million grant towards Afghanistan's National Self-Help Poverty Eradication programme that aimed to help improve rural development in 20,000 Afghan villages. The villages would elect their own community development councils by secret ballot, and the councils would then choose on what to spend their allocated funds.
December 25: 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.
- In Kabul, Canadian soldiers were confronted by an angry mob after a pedestrian was injured in an accident involving Canadian vehicles.
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.
- In the Lalpura District, about 50 kilometres east of Jalalabad, local officials arrested a man carrying 20 home-made bombs.
December 28: In Kabul, near the city's airport, five Afghan security officials detaining a suspect were killed when their vehicle exploded. The suspect was carrying an explosive device which was taken from him, but he then detonated other explosives strapped to his body. The dead 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.
- In a detention camp in Nauru, seventeen of over forty hunger striking Afghan asylum-seekers were hospitalized. It was the 19th day of the strike.
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.
- An Afghan man died after an accident involving members of Canada's first rotation of troops in Kabul.
December 30: India donated 300 military vehicles, including military trucks, jeeps and ambulances, to the Afghan National Army.
- Canadian governor general Adrienne Clarkson visited Canadian troops in Camp Julien for the holidays. She was accompanied by her husband John Ralston Saul and several staff members.
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.
- U.S. ambassador Richard E. Hoagland and Tajikistan Transport Minister Abdu Dzhalil Salimov signed an agreement on the construction of a US$40 million bridge over the Panj River, which separates Tajikistan from Afghanistan.
