2004 in Afghanistan - April

April

Thursday, April 1 - Up to fifty New Zealand Special Air Service troops flew to Afghanistan for "long-range reconnaissance and direct action missions".

Monday, April 5 - In Badakhshan Province, anti-narcotics police destroyed four heroin laboratories and seized 10 tons of opium poppy. There were several arrests.

• The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, stated that terroristsanctuaries and bases continued to exist and develop in Pakistan. He added that U.S. troops might need to enter Pakistan to catch the rebels. Pakistan's information minister, Sheikh Ahmed Rashid, called the comments "harmful" and said Pakistan would never allow foreign troops on its soil. The White House quickly downplayed Khalilzad's comments.

Wednesday, April 7 - A three-hour gun battle occurred during a joint Afghan–U.S. operation near Gereshk in Helmand Province, killing one rebel and one Afghan soldier, while wounding one U.S. soldier and one Afghan soldier.

• Two Afghan rebels were killed in a gunbattle at a military checkpoint in Sangin District of Helmand Province.
• In Uruzgan Province, an Afghan National Army soldier was killed and another was injured when their vehicle hit a mine.

Thursday, April 8 - Troops under the command of Abdul Rashid Dostum overran Maymana, the capital of Faryab Province. 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.

Saturday, April 10 - In Kod-i-Barq, Balkh Province, an armed encounter took place between forces loyal to Abdul Rashid Dostum and a local Tajik leader Atta Mohammad. The incident took place in the Mazar fertilizer factory residential area and resulted in a few injuries.

• Abdul Rashid Dostum forces withdrew from Maymana, the capital of Faryab Province, but remained in the province despite orders to leave.

Monday, April 12 - In Verona, Italy, nine members of the Afghanistan national football team disappeared during the team's tour of Europe. Italian border police were alerted. They later surfaced in Germany and the Netherlands to claim asylum.

• In the Spera District of Khost Province, 700 Afghan and 100 U.S. troops began a new operation to hunt down Al-Qaeda and Taliban members.

Tuesday, April 13 - 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, Afghan forces and ISAF peacekeepers arrested six suspected Taliban members.

Wednesday, April 14 - Taliban members ambushed and shot dead the deputy chief of Mizan District and several of his colleagues in Zabul Province.

• A bomb exploded in front of the U.S. military base further in Kandahar, wounding General Salim Khan, a senior police official, and two of his bodyguards.
• In Khost Province, 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.
• In the Barmal District of Paktika Province, 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.

Thursday, April 15 - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers began a four-day visit to Afghanistan. He was supposed to visit the Zahre Dasht camp for internally displaced persons (near Kandahar); however, his security could not be insured, and the visit was canceled.

Friday, April 16 - The government of Nangarhar Province banned women from performing or reporting news on television and radio.

• On the Del Aram Road at the last checkpoint before Farah Province, men riding in three station wagons fired rockets and machine gun when they were stopped at the checkpoint, killing eight Afghan National Army soldiers.
• Interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai and U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hyatt Regency hotel to be constructed by Afghan-American and Turkish investors.
• U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers met with U.S. commanders in Kabul.

Saturday, April 17 - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers visited with interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai and other senior Afghan officials in Kabul. Lubbers also visited Istalif and the Bagaram district.

Sunday, April 18 - The Economic Cooperation Organization opened a two-day conference in Kabul bringing together representatives from ten regional countries. The agenda included ways to improve development and promote trade, and investment opportunities.

Monday, April 19 - In a raid on a compound in central Kabul, local police and ISAF forces arrested eight militants with suspected links to Hezb-i-Islami and al-Qaeda.

Tuesday, April 20 - At the opening in Kabul 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 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, 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.

Wednesday, April 21 - In Kabul, 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 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, 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, damaging a nearby shop and killing the bomber.
• Afghan Sami Yousafzai, employed by Newsweek, was detained by Pakistani forces when he tried to enterNorth 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.

Thursday, April 22 - In the Ghazi Abad District of Kunar Province, a bomb exploded on a truck carrying fuel for a U.S. military base, wounding three Afghan men.

• After receiving pressure from Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai, the government of Nangahar Province lifted ban on women performers on television and radio.
• U.S. soldier Pat Tillman and a member of the Afghan National Army were killed by hostile fire in an ambush in eastern Afghanistan. Two other U.S. soldiers were wounded.
• In Afghanistan, an explosive device detonated on the road to Kandahar airport as a U.N. convoy passed. There were no injuries.

Friday, April 23 - In a Panjwai District village of Kandahar Province, a group of 50 armed men attacked aid workers of the Central Asia Development Group, setting fire to eight vehicles. No casualties were reported.

Saturday, April 24 - Near the village of Dailanor, in Kandahar Province, rebels ambushed a U.S. military 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.

Sunday, April 25 - Interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai visited Kandahar for the first time since there was an attempt on his life there on September 5, 2002. A man with a grenade near the travel route was apprehended by local police.

• Local police found and destroyed 48 new Chinese-made rockets southwest of Kabul.

Monday, April 26 - Top diplomats of NATO's North Atlantic Council visited Kabul for the first time since it took over command of ISAF.

• In the Panjwai District of Kandahar Province, two aid workers and an Afghan National Army soldier were killed rebels.

Wednesday, April 28 - North of Kabul, local police arrested 16 men suspected of plotting to smuggle weapons into the capital.

• In Kabul'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.

Thursday, April 29 - Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Jalali announced that Kabul police rescued that week more than 17 children from child kidnappers.

Friday, April 30 - At least five Afghan National Army soldiers were killed in an attack by rebels in Panjwai District, Kandahar Province.

• At least two people were killed in an attack by rebels who attacked a government office in Uruzgan Province.
• The Afghan government arrested 19-year-old Mohammad Sahil, a Pakistani national, for spying. Sahil was affiliated with the Islamic party of Jamiat-ul-Ansar and fought under the Taliban command in Panjwae District of Kandahar Province.