About 3,500 Afghanrefugees poured into Pakistan, fleeing heavy night time attacks by U.S. aircraft on the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. The UNHCR estimated that 10,000 had arrived in Baluchistan province in the last six days. Pakistan closed its borders in an effort to prevent a flood of new refugees, which aid officials estimated could number a million or more if unchecked.
Army Ranger Pfc. Kristofor Stonesifer, 28, and Spc. John J. Edmunds, 20, were killed in the crash of a Black Hawk in Pakistan.
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.
At a briefing in The Pentagon, Donald Rumsfeld and Richard Myers denied Taliban claims that hundreds of civilians have died and said that U.S. airstrikes have been precise, except for a bomb that went off course and killed four civilians in a house in Kabul.
Northern Alliance commanders, speaking from Mahmoud-e Raqi, Afghanistan, said they are prepared to advance on Kabul but would wait until an agreement is reached on a coalition government to replace the Taliban.
U.S. warplanes started to drop leaflets in hopes of convincing the Afghan people that they are not the targets of the ongoing strikes. One of the leaflets showed a western soldier shaking hands with a man in traditional Afghan garb, while another gave the frequencies and times of American broadcasts.
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.
The Bush administration said they are concerned that the Taliban regime could collapse before an interim government could be established, creating a power vacuum. As a result, the administration stepped up efforts to shape an interim government composed of Afghanistan's previously warring opposition forces and ethnic groups.
At a news conference, U.S. President George W. Bush stressed the need for the United States to remain engaged in Afghanistan to make sure "that all parties, all interested parties, have an opportunity to be part of a new government," but that the United Nations should take over the responsibility for "stabilization of a future government" after U.S. military action ceases.
Concerned that the U.S. bombing campaign could push the Taliban from power faster than a transition administration could be put in place, Barnett Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University, urged the creation of a joint United Nations and Organization of the Islamic Conference that would include Turkey, Jordan, Morocco and Bangladesh. Although all are Islamic countries, none borders on Afghanistan, thus avoiding a scramble for dominance by neighboring states.
U.N. officials said they were concerned about getting involved in either administration or peacekeeping in Afghanistan because of its heavily armed and feuding factions.
U.S Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Henry Osman said that U.S. forces refrained for political reasons from coordinating their targets with Northern Alliance commanders even though the airstrikes had helped these opposition fighters.
The United States said it saw Mohammed Zahir Shah as the unifying, transitional figure who could preside over a loya jirga of 120 delegates. The United States was involved in detailed talks on allotting seats in the supreme council; tentative plans included 50 seats for the Northern Alliance, 50 seats for the king's followers and 20 seats for other groups.
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.
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.
