Afghanistan timeline

July 31, 2004

• The United States government warned its citizens that the security situation in Afghanistan remained critical and that there was a general threat to all Americans visiting the nation.
• An Afghan official was killed along with his bodyguard during an ambush by rebels in Helmand province, Afghanistan. At least one other bodyguard was wounded.
• In Gujranwala, Pakistan local police picked up about thirty-five Afghan students (between the ages of six and fourteen) studying at a madressah in the Jamia Muhammadia on the Grand Trunk Road. Officials said the students were residing there without any passport, visa or legal documents which were violation of the Immigration Act. The students would be sent back to Afghanistan to obtain their complete documents and return back for their studies.

July 29, 2004

• In Brussels, the European Commission approved an extra €9 million to help fund the October 7 presidential elections in Afghanistan.

July 28, 2004

• At a mosque being used as a voter registration site in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, a bomb killed six, including two United Nations staff worker.
• Doctors Without Borders announced it was withdrawing its staff from Afghanistan because of security concerns.
• Two rocket-propelled grenades were fired at a construction site in Kabul, Afghanistan where South Koreans were building a job training center for the Afghan people. There were no casualties.

July 27, 2004

• Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai formally declared his candidacy for the October 9 presidential elections. He dropped from his ticket Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim and replaced him with Ahmad Zia Massood . Karzai named Karim Khalili his choice for second vice president.

July 26, 2004

• A bomb exploded near a U.S. military vehicle 35 miles east of Qalat , Afghanistan, injuring three American soldiers traveling in an armored Humvee.
• Near central Kabul, Afghanistan, a wing of the Jamhuriat Hospital , being rebuilt by a Chinese-Afghan construction consortium, collapsed, killing four and injuring 26.

July 23, 2004

• In Kandahar, Afghanistan, a remote-controlled bomb exploded a U.S. military convoy passed, wounding between one and four soldier.

July 22, 2004

• Rebels killed a local security chief and 10 of his followers in an ambush in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
• In the district of Mama Karez , Afghanistan, rebels attacked U.S. soldiers patrolling in a pickup truck. Three of the attackers were killed during the hour-long gunfight.
• Two rebels on motorcycles opened fire on two pickup trucks carrying Afghan election workers in Lashkargah , Afghanistan.

July 21, 2004

• Eleven Afghan security personnel were killed in an ambush on their vehicle in Helmand province.

July 20, 2004

• Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai promoted three powerful warlords: General Atta Mohammad was made governor of Balkh province; General Khan Mohammad was made police chief of Kandahar province; General Hazrat Ali was made police chief of Nangarhar province.
• Afghan security forces captured Mullah Amanullah, a brother-in-law of Mohammad Omar, on Tuesday as he drove near Deh Rawood, Uruzgan province. Three remote-controlled bombs and a cell phone as well as an AK-47 were found in his vehicle.
• Afghanistan freed 66 Pakistani prisoners caught fighting for the Taliban during the U.S.-led war in late 2001. Pakistan matched the move by releasing 34 Afghan prisoners.

July 19, 2004

• In a village in Nawbahar district , Zabul province, Afghanistan, five suspected Taliban were caught by U.S. and Afghan National Army soldiers.
• In a village 100 miles northeast of Kandahar, Afghanistan, troops confiscated nine motorcycles and about 10 rifles.
• Four men riding two motorcycles attacked two U.S. Humvees on patrol in Arghandab , Zabul province, Afghanistan, injuring one soldier.
• Dozens of rebels armed with assault rifles attacked the mayor's office in Naish district in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. One attacker was wounded and detained.

July 18, 2004

• An estimate 700 people spent nine hours demonstrating in front of government offices in Maydan Shahr , chanting for the release of Taliban leader Ghulam Mohammed Hotak .
• Less than a kilometer from the headquarters of NATO-led peacekeepers, a rocket landed on a house in the Shashdarak section of Kabul, Afghanistan, killing a woman.mortally wounding a woman.

July 17, 2004

• U.S. troops captured Taliban leader Ghulam Mohammed Hotak in Wardak province, Afghanistan.

July 16, 2004

• In the Spin Aghbarqa area in Zabul province, Afghanistan, rebels attacked a convoy of U.S. and Afghan National Army soldiers on patrol along the Kandahar-Kabul highway , triggering a shootout that killed an Afghan Army soldier and an insurgent.
• U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage visited Kabul, Afghanistan.

July 15, 2004

• The United Nations removed its 17-person staff via helicopter from Ghor province, Afghanistan after its election office there was attacked by protesters. The mob had been protesting a checkpoint conflict that took place in Chaghcharan in which government troops killed two local militiamen.
• A moderate earthquake shook several cities in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

July 14, 2004

• Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai signed a decree to get full cooperation from militia commanders with the Afghan Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Program (DDR). The decree stated that those who participate in activities against the DDR process will be considered disloyal and rebellious and will face severe punishment.

July 11, 2004

• A bomb exploded in Herat, Afghanistan, killing six and injuring 34.

July 9, 2004

• The Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body announced that Afghanistan's presidential elections would take place on October 9, 2004, and parliamentary would take place elections in the Spring of 2005.

July 8, 2004

• In Khogyani district , Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, a landmine blast killed a female election worker and wounded at least two other people.
• In Afghanistan, a bus on the Kandahar-Kabul highway crashed when the driver lost control, killing eleven people and injuring forty-four.

July 6, 2004

• Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai and members of a U.N.-sponsored electoral commission met in Kabul, but failed to finalize on a date for the national and parliamentary elections.
• Intelligence agents captured Taliban members Mullah Sakhi Dad Mujahid and Nisar Hamed in a raid on a compound in Shah Wali Kot , Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Mujahid was carrying a cell phone containing phone numbers of top level Taliban leaders, including founder Mohammed Omar.
• U.S. Major Harry Schmidt was found guilty of dereliction of duty in regards to his killing of four Canadians on April 17, 2002 in Afghanistan.
• In a program organized by the UNHCR, the first of 525 Afghan refugees departed from Kyrgyzstan to Canada to start new lives.

July 5, 2004

• In the Karteh Parwan district of Kabul, Afghanistan, local security forces arrested three Americans, including Jonathan Idema, and four Afghans after police raided an illegal jail.

July 4, 2004

• In a ceremony in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai accepted the Philadelphia Liberty Medal.
• A roadside bomb exploded near Lashkargar , Helmand province, Afghanistan, injuring the mayor, Haji Manaf Khan , and his bodyguard.

July 3, 2004

• Police in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan made a large drug seizure and then accused regional military commander Mohammad Atta of being involved in the illegal trade.

July 1, 2004

• Carmela Baranowska , an Australian journalist reported missing in Helmand province, Afghanistan, called her employer to say she was not being held hostage. She had not been seen nor heard from since June 28.