2002 in Afghanistan - October

October

October 5: A U.S. soldier in a helicopter northwest of Kandahar is wounded by gunfire, soldiers in the helicopter return fire killing one attacker and wounding another.

Tuesday October 15: A rocket hits a U.S. bunker in Lwara amidst a rocket attack, U.S. forces detain three suspects.

Wednesday October 23 Mortar fire is directed at a U.S. encampment in Asadabad.

• Three New Zealand soldiers are injured when their vehicle hit a land mine near Farah.

Monday, October 28: Iran made an appeal to Kabul to respect a 1972 accord entitling Iran to at least 26 cubic metres of water a second from the Helmand River. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, they violated the 1972 accord, with devastating results in Iran's impoverished Sistan-Baluchestan border region. Tens of thousands of cattle and other livestock perished in the ensuing drought. In a sign of improved Tehran-Kabul ties, Afghanistan honored the appeal, but said the flow would only be temporary.

Wednesday, October 30: The top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, told the U.N. Security Council that the new Afghan government headed by Hamid Karzai did not have the means or power to deal with the underlying problems that cause security threats. Brahimi also voiced a concern that Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was trying to form an alliance with remnants of the Talibanand al-Qaeda Brahimi also said there would be no long-term security in Afghanistan until a well-trained, well-equipped, and regularly paid national police force and national army are in place.

Thursday, October 31: Afghan authorities began investigating a series of well-coordinated attacks against girls' schools in a central region near Kabul. Four schools in Vardak Province were attacked the previous week in a deliberate and systematic attempt to stop parents from sending their daughters to school. The attackers fired two rockets into school buildings in villages near the town of Maidan Shah, demolishing classroom walls and setting the buildings on fire. They also raided a school at a village mosque, setting fire to its wooden chairs and blackboard. The attackers left behind an unexploded grenade and several leaflets warning parents to keep their girls at home.

• United States paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division found three rockets pointing at the US base in Khost, but no arrests were made.
• Two U.S. soldiers were injured when their sports utility vehicle rolled over while traveling in a three-vehicle convoy from the central town of Bamiyan to the U.S. headquarters at Bagram. One of the soldiers lost consciousness and the other suffered cuts to a hand.
• A U.S. special forces soldier was shot in the leg when his unit came under fire on a road outside Jalalabad. The wound was not life-threatening.