Afghanistan timeline September 2003
Timeline of Afghan history
- In Ottawa, Canada, Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Reports surfaced that Canada would take over ISAF command in 2004, but Chrétien said Canada would not send any more troops to Afghanistan until its current 12-month peacekeeping mission was over.
- In Badakhshan province, Afghanistan, eight men were arrested on suspicion of smuggling boys. Afghan authorities said they had rescued 85 boys who had been abducted. They were being smuggled into Iran and into Pakistan. Children abducted in the region were sold as sex slaves or child laborers.
- NATO Secretary General George Robertson arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan to visit ISAF peacekeepers. He also met with Afghan Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali and United Nations officials.
- In the Mir Mundo area of Helmand province, Afghanistan, rebels killed seven bodyguards of Helmand Governor Sher Mohammed Akhundzada.
- In the village of Shaga, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, arsonists burned down a coed secondary school.
- Rebels fired two rockets at the U.S. base in Shkin, Paktika province, Afghanistan.
- Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced new political appointments to the defence ministry. Eight appointments were given to members of the Pashtun majority, including the deputy ministerial position to Major General Farooq Wardak who replaced General Bismullah Khan. Five Tajiks, four Hazaras, two Uzbeks, one Baluchi and one Nuristani were also named to new positions.
- In Afghanistan, near the Bagram Air Base, at least six people were killed in two blasts at the home of an explosives trader. A boy in was killed by shrapnel when a rocket exploded after the main blast. Six to 10 people were injured in the second explosion.
- Near Khost, Afghanistan, while trying to defuse a rocket aimed at the town, an Afghan National Army soldier was killed and another severely wounded.
- Near the Bagram Air Base north of Kabul, Afghanistan, six people were killed in an accidental blast at an explosives-filled house.
- Nine were killed in an accidental blast at an explosives dealer's house in Mehtarlam, Laghman province, Afghanistan.
- Afghan Commerce Minister Sayed Mustafa Kazemi announced the approval of 5,000 investment projects worth $4.5 billion, expecting to employ more than 400,000 people.
- In Maruf district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, fifteen Taliban rebels were killed by U.S.-led coalition forces, including Mullah Hafiz Abdul Rahim. Taliban leader Abdur Rahman was captured and interrogated. Five Afghan National Army troops were wounded, two of them seriously.
- Iran and Afghanistan signed a memorandum of understanding on customs cooperation. The Head of Iran`s Custom Administration Masoud Karbasian and the Head of Afghanistan's Custom Administration Gholam Jilani Pupel signed the document.
- In the Taftan area, Pakistani border security forces arrested around 100 Afghans who crossed into Pakistan from Iran.
- A joint meeting between officials of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States was held at the checkpost of Friendship Gate in the border town of Chaman, Afghanistan. It was decided that the neighboring nations would deploy more troops at their border.
- The United Nations Commission on Human Rights criticized Kabul police for forcing the evicting 30 families in Shir Pur village near the up-market Wazir Akbar Khan district of central Kabul by bulldozing their homes. Both the United Nations and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission appealed to authorities to suspend the operation until an alternative could be offered. The families had lived there for 30 years.
- In the Sar Murghab area of In Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, a remote-controlled bomb went off killing senior Afghan military commander Mullah Gul Akhund was killed along with his bodyguard. A third person in their car was seriously wounded.
- In the Nava district near Asadabad, Kunar province, Afghan authorities seized 100 anti-tank mines, mortar shells and remote control bombs.
- The Germany cabinet agreed to extending its peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan beyond Kabul, if the United Nations voted to expand the ISAF mandate there.
- Both Pakistan and Afghanistan officials announced that Pakistan had agreed to train 800 Afghan policemen in three of Pakistani training centers. Pakistan would also provide stipends to the Afghan police cadets during their training.
- In the Muhammad Agha district of Logar province, Afghanistan, the coed Moghul Khil Elementary School was set on fire, destroying two rooms and two tents. Leaflets were scattered that said girls should not be allowed in the classroom, threatening teachers who taught girls. Classes resumed the next day.
- Five rockets were fired at the U.S. base in Gardez, Afghanistan; there was no damage or injuries.
- The United States barred its diplomats in Kabul, Afghanistan from any unofficial travel.
- Four Afghan policemen were killed, four were wounded and four were missing after a raid on their checkpoint 115 miles northeast of Kandahar, Zabul province. Indian contractors working for the Louis Berger Group came under small-arms fire in nearby a guest house. Two of the company's security guards were shot dead when assailants opened fire on their vehicle.
- Taliban troops mounted a surprise attack behind U.S. and Afghan army lines, killing at least eight Afghan soldiers and slightly wounding General Sayf Allah. One U.S. soldier died when his parachute failed to open.
