Afghanistan timeline April 2004
Timeline of Afghan history
- North of Kabul, Afghanistan, local police arrested 16 men suspected of plotting to smuggle weapons into the capital.
- In Kabul, Afghanistan's Deputy Minister for Refugees and Repatriation, Mohammad Naim Ghiacy hosted a meeting with an Iranian delegation led by Ahmed Hosseini and with UNHCR representatives Filippo Grandi and Philippe Lavanchy to discuss Afghan repatriation progress. To date, 2 million Afghans lived in Iran, of whom 800,000 are considered refugees.
- Near the village of Dailanor, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, rebels ambushed a U.S. ilitary convoy on a road, detonating an explosion that wounded three U.S. Marines, one seriously. The Marines were part of a contingent of 2,000 Marines who arrived in Afghanistan in recent weeks.
- In a Panjwai district village of Kandahar province, Afghanistan, a group of 50 armed men attacked aid workers of the Central Asia Development Group, setting fire to eight vehicles. No casualties were reported.
- In Kabul, Afghanistan, local police and ISAF soldiers arrested four suspects, three near Kabul Stadium and one in front of the Finance Ministry. Three detonators were found in the vest of the last suspect. Over a dozen other suspects were taken into custody in a raid on a home.
- A bomb near Spin Boldak, Afghanistan killed one person and injured two others. The blast occurred near a building where the governor was meeting with local officials.
- U.S. forces battled for four hours against rebels in the Tangi mountains of Zabul province, Afghanistan, killing two fighters and arresting two others. Five AK-47 rifles and one rocket launcher were seized by the U.S. forces.
- A bomb exploded near a bazaar in Kandahar, Afghanistan, damaging a nearby shop and killing the bomber.
- Afghan Sami Yousafzai, employed by Newsweek, was detained by Pakistani forces when he tried to enter North Waziristan; he was held until June 2. Eliza Griswold, a U.S. journalist employed by The New Yorker, was also detained, but was quickly freed and deported.
- At the opening in Kabul, Afghanistan of a three-day gathering of representatives of international donor countries, interim president Hamid Karzai announced a reduction in the size of his 30-person cabinet and a clarification of the responsibilities of each ministry. However, the plan needed the approved of the current cabinet before taking effect.
- German foreign minister Joschka Fischer visited Kunduz, Afghanistan and met the provincial governor and some of the 300 German peacekeeping troops posted there. Later he met interim president Hamid Karzai in Kabul.
- In Kabul, Afghanistan, Abdullah Shah was killed by firing squad, marking the first sanctioned execution in the country since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. Abdullah Shah was convicted of more than 20 murders. News of the execution was kept secret until the story was revealed by Amnesty International a week later.
- The Economic Cooperation Organization opened a two-day conference in Kabul, Afghanistan bringing together representatives from ten regional countries. The agenda included ways to improve development and promote trade, and investment opportunities.
- Taliban members ambushed and shot dead the deputy chief of Mizan district and several of his colleagues in Zabul province, Afghanistan.
- A bomb exploded in front of the U.S. military base further in Kandahar, Afghanistan, wounding General Salim Khan, a senior police official, and two of his bodyguards.
- In Khost province, Afghanistan, rebels exchanged of rocket and machine-gun fire with Afghan National Army soldiers killing two and wounding two. Nine rebels were also killed.
- Police chief Yar Mohammed and nine of his officers were ambushed and killed by rebel forces in Zabul province, Afghanistan.
- In the Barmal district of Paktika province, Afghanistan, five Taliban rebels in military uniforms pretending to be pro-government forces executed seven Afghans, including five government officials, a woman and child. They were asked if they supported interim president Hamid Karzai and the government. The people in the vehicle said yes, and they were killed on the spot.
- Afghan national security officers, local police and more than 100 Canadian soldiers raided a compound in the Charar Asiab district outside Kabul, arresting six suspects of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin.
- Taliban members killed two Afghan civilians for allegedly spying for the U.S. forces in Uruzgan province.
- In Kabul, Afghanistan, Afghan forces and ISAF peacekeepers arrested six suspected Taliban members.
- Troops under the command of Abdul Rashid Dostum overran Maymana, the capital of Faryab province, Afghanistan. Some reports claim Dostum forces fired into a crowd, killing four. Gov. Enayatullah Enayat was rushed to an airport and evacuated. Afghan National Army troops were flown from Kabul to Faryab province.
- Hamidullah, an Afghan intelligence chief, and two Afghan National Army soldiers were abducted by dozens of men near Chenartu in Uruzgan province. Taliban leader Mullah Hakim Latifi claimed that the men had been killed, and offered to exchange their bodies for that of a Taliban held by Uruzgan officials.
- Up to fifty New Zealand Special Air Service troops flew to Afghanistan for "long-range reconnaissance and direct action missions".
