2003 in Afghanistan – Sludge Pump EZG – Slurry Pump EMM
2003 in Afghanistan – Sludge Pump EZG – Slurry Pump EMM
January
January 1: On his way to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Kuchi elder Haji Naim Kuchai (aka Naeem Kochi) was detained by U.S. troops. Kuchai had stopped the car in which he was travelling some 25 kilometres south of Kabul when the incident occurred. He was then taken to an undisclosed location.
More than 300 rockets, mostly 107 mm, smuggled from neighbouring Pakistan were seized by border police in the Durbaba region of the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan.
January 2: BearingPoint of McLean, Virginia announced that it had installed and was helping to operate a financial management information system for the Afghan government. The work was part of a .95 million contract the company won to help the government upgrade its accounting system.
This marked the last day of a three-month transition period in Afghanistan to swap old Afghani banknotes for new currency, which retained the name but had three zeros knocked off.
International Security Assistance Force peacekeepers found explosive materials planted in a Kabul school.
January 3: The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that security problems and poor living conditions meant it was still unsafe for many of the more than 4 million Afghan refugees to return home.
January 4:A two-day meeting of Iran, Afghanistan and India marked a new start in boosting cooperation in the region. The meeting was headed by the three countries’ trade ministers to discuss ways of implementing their earlier agreements on bolstering trade and transit ties, including construction of a railway to link Iran’s southeastern Sistan Baluchestan to the Afghan provinces of Nimruz, Farah, Helmand and Kandahar.
The first 1,000 of 25,000 Afghans participating in the haj pilgrimage to Mecca departed Kabul, one year after a mob of angry hajis attacked and killed a government minister there. Only 6,500 of some 15,000 applicants were able to make the journey in 2002.
January 6: A suspected Taliban was arrested in Bamyan Province and taken to Kabul.
The commander of the International Security Assistance Force, Turkish General Hilmi Akin Zorlu, told reporters that the US led war against Iraq could provoke terrorists to step up attacks against foreigners.
Within the first week of 2003 in Zabul Province, armed men stole at least seven vehicles belonging to British, U.S. and Afghan aid agencies in broad daylight and the local office of the Afghan Development Agency suffered a grenade attack. These incidents put the future of aid operations to the region in jeopardy.
January 7: Two Ariana Afghan Airlines jet planes carrying Muslim pilgrims from Herat to Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage made precautionary landings in the United Arab Emirates. Forces within the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan suspected a hijacker or a bomb was on board one of the flights. Afghan and UAE officials found no signs of any hijack attempt.
Mullah Salam, a former Taliban regional commander was released from U.S. detention. It wasn’t immediately clear where Salam had been held or why was he freed. He went home late to Zabul Province in Afghanistan.
January 8: Afghanistan’s trade minister Syed Mustafa Kazmi signed an agreement in Tehran to open “all channels” to trade between Iran and Afghanistan and allow Afghan vehicles access to all parts of Iran.
Afghanistan’s foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah that Pakistan that it should do more to police the Afghan border and capture Taliban and al Qaeda leaders. He implied that some of the leaders of the Taliban were in Pakistan.
In Kabul, Paula Dobriansky, the U.S. undersecretary of state for global affairs, announced that the U.S. would provide a .5 million grant to support education, small businesses and other programs for Afghanistan’s women. Private businesses, including Daimler-Chrysler and AOL Time Warner, would provide another ,000 for additional programs. Dobriansky was in Afghanistan to lead a U.S. delegation at the second meeting of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council.
Two fuel trucks were damaged by explosions on board as they were parked about three miles (5 km) from a U.S. coalition forces base in Kandahar, Afghanistan. One of the Afghan drivers was injured slightly.
U.S. special forces uncovered about 150 land mines near Jalalabad, after being tipped off by local Afghans.
In Keshende, Afghanistan, one person was killed and three were wounded in an armed clash between forces of Ustad Atta Mohammad and of Abdul Rashid Dostum.
In Loi Karez, four people died and one was hurt in a fire fight between Afghan forces and suspected members of the ousted Taliban militia.
January 9: A ceremony was held at the Kabul Inter-continental Hotel to celebrate the reopening of the Xinhua Kabul Bureau, which was originally set up in 1956 and had to suspend its operation in 1979.
Eight Afghans