2002 in Afghanistan - February

February

Friday, February 1: Snow at Kabul International Airport forced the plane of Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai to land in Bagram, as he returned after a week-long trip abroad that took him to the United States and the United Kingdom.

• Making India his first foreign itinerary, Afghanistan's Uzbek strongman and Deputy Defense Minister Abdul Rashid Dostum flew to New Delhi to hold a lengthy meeting with Defense Minister George Fernandes.

Saturday, February 2: Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai established a special committee to investigate factional violence threatening the stability of Afghanistan. The nine-member commission, headed by Border Affairs Minister Amanullah Zadran, flew by helicopter immediately to the eastern city of Gardez where violence had erupted days before.

• The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that 55,000 people at one Spinboldak camp were Kochi.
• Ten truckloads of weapons and ammunition were sent to re-arm the men of Hamid Karzai's recently appointed governor for Paktia, Bacha Khan. Forces loyal to warlord Padshah Khan did not want Bacha Khan as governor and were dismayed that U.S. forces operating in the area would not come to their rescue.
• The U.S. military finished construction of Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The completion of the camp raised its capacity from 158 to 320, and included three air-conditioned, wooden huts where military intelligence officers and representatives of other U.S. agencies interrogated prisoners, one at a time in shifts that typically lasted about an hour.

Sunday, February 3: In Gardez, Afghanistan, Afghan and United Nations mediators, joined by U.S. officials, extracted a conditional cease-fire agreement from Bacha Khan and Padshah Khan.

• A group of 75 Canadian soldiers, the first in an expected contingent of 750, arrived at the U.S.-commandeered airfield in Kandahar. The Canadian force will work alongside U.S. Army soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division guarding suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners at Kandahar, and could also engage in combat or humanitarian missions.

Monday, February 4: Yacine Akhnouche and two others were arrested near Paris. Arknouche told police he had met suspected shoe bomber Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui at a training camp in Afghanistan in 2000.

Tuesday, February 5: Calling on his countrymen to "take each other's hands" to rebuild the nation, interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai raised Afghanistan's new flag over the presidential palace. The flag had been originally approved by the 1964 constitution as Afghanistan's national emblem but had not flown over government offices in Kabul since the Taliban took over in the early 1990s. The ceremony, which lasted about 15 minutes, was attended by cabinet ministers, diplomats and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

• Interim leader Afghan Hamid Karzai met with visiting British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon. At their talks, Karzai requested that the British-led peacekeeping force expand beyond Kabul, but Hoon said he believed the current deployment level was adequate.

Wednesday, February 6: In attempts to bring peace between feuding warlords, Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai visited Herat.

Thursday, February 7: U.S. President George W. Bush decided that the 1949 Geneva Conventions would apply to captured Taliban fighters taken from Afghanistan to a US military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, but not to al-Qaeda members there.

Friday, February 8: Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai agreed to cooperate on a proposed Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline project to transport natural gas from Central Asia to Pakistan via Afghanistan.

Saturday, February 9: Hamid Karzai, head of the Afghan interim government, appointed Maulvi Zia-ul-haq Haqyar and Syed Akram uddin as the new governors of Baghlan and Takhar provinces in northern Afghanistan.

• The United States brought another 34 al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects to Camp X-Ray on Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Sunday, February 10: Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai released more than 300 captured Taliban soldier. Karzai said they were innocent and urged them to find jobs.

• Afghan interim Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim went to Moscow to seek Russia's support in creating an Afghan army to replace the current force of tribal and ethnic militias.
• In the presence of Afghan officials, Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil voluntarily surrendered at the U.S. airbase just outside Kandahar.
• Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai arrived at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Karzai was greeted by UAE army chief of staff Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Information Minister Sehikh Abdulah bin Zayed.

Monday, February 11: Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai met with United Arab Emirates President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The UAE announced it allocated $6 million for Afghan humanitarian relief, setting up refugee camps on the Pakistan-Afghan border near the Pakistan town of Chaman. Karzai reopened the Afghan embassy.

• The Afghan government in Kabul appointed Qari Baba as the governor of eastern Ghazni province.

Tuesday, February 12: Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai warned warlords to remove their check posts and chains on roads.

Wednesday, February 13: The United States Congress stepped in to find nearly $300m in humanitarian and reconstruction funds for Afghanistan after the Bush administration failed to request any money in the latest budget.

• Two U.S. soldiers in Kandahar are wounded during a firefight with unknown forces. Afghan officials characterized it as a "mistake".

Thursday, February 14: Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai visited Jalalabad to attend a function being held there in memory of former mujahedin commander Abdul Haq. Haq was brother of the Jalalabad governor, Haji Abdul Qadir.

• Afghanistan's aviation and tourism minister, Abdul Rahman, was killed in what appeared to be a mob attack on his plane at Kabul's airport by pilgrims angry that they had been unable to travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Witnesses and officials said pilgrims beat the minister to death and tossed his body to the tarmac. However, Prime Minister Hamid Karzai accused six senior government officials of the murder, saying that they were motivated by a long-standing feud. Three were arrested and the others were being sought in Saudi Arabia. Karzai said five ministers, including the head of the intelligence ministry, Gen. Abdullah Tawhedi; the technical deputy of the Ministry of Defense, Gen. Qalander Big, and a Supreme Court justice, Haji Halim—and 15 other suspects have been linked to the assassination.

Friday, February 15: Fighting broke out at a goodwill soccer game between an Afghan national team and international peacekeepers. Guards beat back overflowing crowds trying to enter the stadium. Play went on anyway despite the clash, and the international team won the game three to one. Afghanistan's former Taliban government had used the Kabul stadium for public executions and other harsh punishment to enforce its fundamentalist version of Islamic rules.

Saturday, February 16: The first attack on International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers since their initial deployment in Afghanistan on December 22, 2001 occurred when a post in Kabul came under attack before dawn. Soldiers of the 2nd Parachute Battalion returned fire, and the gunmen fled in a car. Later, a car at a nearby house was discovered riddled with bullets. One man was found dead and five hurt.

Tuesday, February 19: The Pentagon ordered two U.S. bombing raids against Afghan militias opposed to the new administration led by Hamid Karzai. This marked a turn in strategy. Previously, all U.S. military operation had focused strictly on Taliban and al-Qaeda forces.

Saturday, February 23: Two rockets are fired at the U.S. base in Kandahar, but do don't inflict any damage.

Sunday, February 24: Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai arrived in Tehran, Iran to meet with reformist President Mohammad Khatami and his government and to exchange views on regional issues, including the future of Afghan refugees. Iran pledged $560 million to Afghan reconstruction over five years. The meetings take place despite U.S. accusations of Iran's inclusion in U.S. President George W. Bush's "Axis of evil". Traveling with Karzai were Afghan Ministers of Foreign Affairs Abdullah, Immigration Affairs Enayatollah Nazeri, Commerce Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, Transport Sultan Hamid Sultan, Information and Culture Rahim Makhdoom, Agriculture Seyed Hussein Anwari, and Rural Development Abdul Malik Anwar.

Monday, February 25: The first units of a new Afghan army started training in Kabul. The U.S. was assisting in the creation of the army.

• Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai signed an accord with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to fight terrorism and drug trafficking, and not to interfere in each other's affairs.
• Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai met Iran's spiritual guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and parliament speaker Mehdi Karrubi. He also addressed the Iranian parliament. Later in the day, Karzai urged Tehran and Washington, D.C. to work together for Afghanistan's reconstruction.

Tuesday, February 26: Accompanied by a strong 36-member delegation, which includes Foreign Minister Abdullah, Afghanistan interim head Hamid Karzai arrived in New Delhi, India to discuss efforts underway for rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Wednesday, February 27: Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai attended a special ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India. He also had visits with Indian President Kocheril Raman Narayanan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Vice President Krishan Kant, and Leader of Opposition Sonia Gandhi.