2003 in Afghanistan – Sludge Pump EZG – Slurry Pump EMM
were killed and 10 were injured when a minibus travelling from Spin Boldak to Pakistan crashed on a mountain road. The driver lost control of the vehicle near the Pakistani border town of Chaman.
January 10: The governor of Herat Province, Ismail Khan, placed further restrictions on women’s education by banning women being taught by men in privately run courses and by preventing women from attending classes in a building at the same time that men are being taught.
The World Health Organization reported 115 cases and 17 deaths from pertussis in Khwahan District, the provincial capital of Badakhshan.
Utilizing the Generalized System of Preferences, U.S. president George W. Bush named Afghanistan a “least-developed beneficiary,” a move that allowed Afghanistan to export about 5,700 products to the U.S. without tariffs.
In Jalalabad, Afghanistan, U.S. special forces soldiers discovered in feed sacks about 900 pounds of propellant, 180 pounds (82 kg) of steel ball bearings, and 200 rocket-propelled grenades.
January 11: As a gesture of goodwill, Afghan General Abdul Rashid Dostum released 50 prisoners who fought for the former Taliban regime from a jail in Kunduz. Incarcerated since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, the prisoners were handed over to Pashtun tribal elders. Dostum had been accused of war crimes against prisoners, including the suffocation of nearly 1,000 Taliban fighters transported in airless cargo containers after their surrender. The general denied the charges, but said 200 detainees already suffering from illness and wounds sustained during fighting may have died while being taken to jail. President Karzai supported the release.
Residents of Paktia Province reported a pirate radio station broadcasting appeals to overthrow the fragile Afghan government and attack U.S.-led coalition forces.
The U.S. military resumed clearing land mines at Bagram Air Base, two days after an explosion injured a U.S. soldier. The base had nearly 1.5 square miles (3.9 km2) that had not yet been cleared of land mines. Since the beginning of 2002, more than 7,000 mines had been removed from Bagram.
President Karzai announced the formation of four commissions to accelerate the disarmament of warlord armies and rebuild the Afghan National Army. The disarmament commission would be headed by Vice President Abdul Karim Khalili. The re-integration commission would be headed by Deputy Defence Minister Attiqullah Barlai. Two ex-army generals, Rahim Wardak and Gulzarak Khan were to head the recruitment and training commissions.
People in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan found posters threatening death to anyone supporting President Karzai’s U.S.-backed government.
January 12: In Balkh, Afghanistan, an electronics repairman and a 14-year old boy were killed immediately when a bomb hidden inside a tape recorder detonated. An unidentified man left the tape recorder at the shop, saying he would return later. When the man failed to return, the repairman inserted batteries, setting off the blast.
In Shebergan, Afghan authorities arrested a man suspected of planning to assassinate warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum and his top deputies. The man allegedly admitted to acting on orders of the Taliban and al-Qaida.
Pamphlets distributed in Peshawar, Pakistan said a group calling itself the “Secret Army of Muslim Mujahideen” had claimed responsibility for at least 50 attacks in Afghanistan, mostly on U.S. soldiers and bases near the eastern Afghan border.
January 14: U.S. special forces found 322 107-mm rockets in the vicinity of Zarin Kalay, near Khost.
The Afghan security chief of Spin Boldak said that minor clashes had been reported recently between Afghan forces and suspected members of the Taliban. He said small groups of Taliban fighters, led by local commander Hafiz Abdur Rahim, were operating in Kandahar and other southern provinces.
The Parliament of Slovakia voted 113-10 to approve the extension of their 40-member military engineering unit in Afghanistan. Working in Afghanistan since September 2002, the engineers worked on major rehabilitation projects such as the runway at the airport in Bagram.
Iran and Afghanistan signed a contract regarding a two-phase project meant to transfer electricity from Iran to Herat.
January 15: U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz took a one-day tour of projects in Afghanistan, including a women’s hospital in Kabul, road work done by U.S. military personnel, and mock attacks by the Afghan National Army. Later Wolfowitz met with President Karzai, Turkish General Hilmi Akin Zorlu (commander of the International Security Assistance Force), and had dinner with U.S. troops.
European Union External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten announced more than 230 million in new aid to Afghanistan for improving stability and human rights. In 2002, the EU spent 275 million on