Japan's Ministry of Finance announced that payments or fund transfers to accounts in Afghanistan and to Taliban-related individuals living outside Afghanistan needed its permission.
The United States Defense Department called to active duty another 5,000 Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members, bringing the total number of active reservists to more than 10,000.
Scores of Afghan men threw rocks and bricks at the gate of the U.S.embassy, screaming "death to America." The embassy had been abandoned since 1988.
Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammed Khan said his country would keep open diplomatic ties with the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan.
In Karachi, Pakistan, an estimated 40,000 people protested against potential U.S. strikes on Afghanistan. Four protesters were killed and ten police officers were injured. Other protests in Peshawar (10,000 protesters), Quetta (3,000 protesters), and Islamabad (1,500 protesters) occurred without incident.
Iran set up refugee camps on Afghan soil and asked relief organizations to help provide services to the camps. Iran also ordered its troops to seal its border with Afghanistan. Iran also stated that it would not allow the U.S. warplanes to use Iranian air space to attack Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, the shura, a council of 1,000 village clerics and mullahs, issued an edict that called on the Taliban to persuade Osama bin Laden to leave Afghanistan, but the United States rejected the suggestion.
Official beginning of United States' combat activities in Afghanistan, as designated by president George W. Bush in his "Afghanistan Combat Zone Executive Order" [1] on December 12, 2001.
In Kabul, Afghanistan, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar announced he was ready to hold talks with the United States. He also urged the U.S. to use patience and to gather and turn over evidence to the Taliban Supreme Court . Omar suggested that the U.S. was using Osama bin Laden as a pretext to topple the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The U.S. government responded by stating it wanted action, not negotiations.
A Pakistani delegation sent to Kabul, Afghanistan to convince the Taliban movement to hand over Osama bin Laden also visited the eight detained Shelter Now International workers on trial for spreading Christianity. The delegation spokesman said the detainees appeared well and in good spirits.
A delegation of Pakistani officials led by intelligence chief General Mahmood Ahmed flew from Kandahar to Kabul to negotiate with Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan leaders, including Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhond and Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil .
Sibghatullah Mujaddedi , the head of the National Salvation Front of Afghanistan and first President of the Mujahideen government, condemned the September 11th attacks and urged the United States to exercise restraint.
Afghan rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, from his safe house in Iran, condemned the potential attack by the United States on Afghanistan, and threatened to band with other groups to resist it. Hekmatyar said also that he had no reason to disbelieve Osama bin Laden's denial of involvement in the September 11th attacks.
In Afghanistan, a meeting of the shura, a collection of 1,000 village clerics and mullahs, was scheduled to decide the fate of Osama bin Laden, but the council could not reach Kabul in time. The meeting was postponed one day.
The United Nations World Food Program warned that an estimated 3.8 million Afghans, completely dependent on outside aid, had only enough food stocks for two to three weeks.
India announced that Afghanrefugees living in the country would have to register themselves.
Afghanistan shut down its airspace, two weeks after threatening to close it if the United Nations did not lift sanctions against Ariana Afghan Airlines. Although no flights were landing in Afghanistan, many flights were flying across Afghan airspace. Each time an aircraft flew over Afghanistan the airline had to pay Ariana $400. The money was deposited in accounts in Geneva that were frozen because of the sanctions.
Pakistan's army reported that Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan troops of between 20,000 and 25,000 had been deployed just across the border from the Khyber Pass. A Pakistani army officer said Pakistan had reinforced its own troops fanned out along the region.
U.S. president George W. Bush told his military to get ready for a long War on terrorism, adding that they would smoke the enemies "out of their holes".
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan information minister, Qadratullah Jamal , said that Afghanistan had "fortified our bunkers and our important installations, including military bases and airfields."
Osama bin Laden published a statement to the Afghan Islamic Press that he was not responsible for the September 11th attacks. In the statement bin Laden said "The U.S. is pointing the finger at me but I categorically state that I have not done this."
Thousands attended the funeral of Ahmad Shah Masood, former commander of the Northern Alliance, who was buried in his home village of Basarak in the Panjshir Valley of Afghanistan.
A Pakistani newspaper reported that Osama bin Laden had snuck out of Kandahar, along with his wives, children and followers and moved to an undisclosed secret location in Afghanistan.
A Russian division of 7,000 men based in Tajikistan, which borders Afghanistan, was placed on heightened combat alert. However, Tajikistan announced it would not allow Western nations to launch attacks on Afghanistan from its territory. Tajikistan was struggling to recover from a five-year civil war between Islamic opposition forces and a hard-line secular government, and was heavily dependent on Russia for military and political support.
United States Secretary of StateColin Powell said that Pakistan agreed to cooperate if the United States decided to strike Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported Pakistani officials had agreed to allow the United States to use Pakistani airspace in the event of a military strike against Afghanistan, but Pakistan would not involve its forces in any action beyond its own geographical boundaries.
Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a call for jihad against the United States and its supporters if they attacked or assisted an attack on Afghanistan. The Taliban also asked all foreigners to leave Afghanistan in view of a possible attack by the United States.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivan expressed implicit Russian support for a possible U.S. armed intervention in Afghanistan.
India, which did not share a formal military relationship with the United States, decided to allow its facilities to be used for strikes against Afghanistan. India also provided the United States with intelligence information on training camps of Islamic militants in the region.
The World Food Program warned that, following exodus of aid workers, about 1.5 million Afghans could emigrate out of Afghanistan in search of food. The U.N. estimated that, to date, Afghanistan had 900,000 internally displaced persons and that there were more than three million Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan alone. Furthermore, the U.N. estimated that a quarter of the population (5.5 million people) would be reliant on food aid if they were to stay alive through November.
The Pakistan Ulema Council called for a jihad against the United States if they attack Afghanistan. Council vicechair Maulana Naseeruddin organized rallies and "Death to America" conferences around Pakistan.
In anticipation of U.S. strikes, Muslim militants were reported fleeing Kabul, Afghanistan, while other residents were said to be digging trenches around the city.
Three Western diplomats, representing eight aid workers on trial for allegedly preaching Christianity, left Afghanistan amid an exodus of foreigners concerned over possible U.S. attacks. Family members of the detainees also left the country. However, the eight aid workers remained in the custody of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan militia as an Islamic court continued their trial behind closed doors.
Senior Bush officials OK plan to topple Taliban regime, if a diplomatic push to expel Osama bin Laden from the country fails. [2]
More than 135 Taliban were killed and 75 captured in an attack by opposition forces on Taliban positions in Eshkamesh and Chal districts of Takhar province, Afghanistan.
Afghan opposition leader Ahmed Shah Massoud was assassinated. A suicide bomber, posing as a journalist, blew himself up after gaining access to Masood's office. The suicide bomber was killed along with one of Masood's followers, and the Afghan commander's guards killed the second person posing as a journalist. The terrorists first conducted interviews with opposition soldiers in Shomali before meeting with Massoud. The bomb was either hidden in the camera or concealed around the waist of one of the terrorists. Massoud did not die immediately, and underwent emergency surgery at a hospital in Tajikistan.
The Afghan Supreme Court resumed the trial of eight foreign aid workers held for allegedly preaching Christianity, but no detainees, diplomats or journalists were present.
Eight foreign aid workers on trial for promoting Christianity in Afghanistan appeared for the first time in the Supreme Court, and said they were innocent of proselytising. The hearing was presided over by Chief Justice Noor Mohammad Saqib and 18 other judges. One of the six female defendants was wearing the head-to-toe cloak which is mandatory for Afghan women in public, while the others had veils over their hair only. The defendants walked slowly into the court under the escort of armed guards, who did not allow them to answer questions from journalists waiting outside the court.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan took control of the Shokhi and Khan Aqa districts in Kapisa province after several days of heavy clashes with the Northern Alliance led by Ahmad Shah Masood. The mother of one of the US prisoners and the father of another accompanied their daughters into the court but the cousin of the Australian man was kept waiting outside along with Australian, German and US diplomats.
The United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell , arrived in Kabul, saying the trial of the arrested foreign aid workers would be meaningful only if it is held in an open court. Despite an earlier promise to do so, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan had not allowed journalists, Western diplomats or relatives of the accused any access to the proceedings.
The World Food Program announced that Afghanistan was on the brink of famine, and appealed for $151 million to fund an "emergency operation".
The Central Board of Revenue of Pakistan approved zero-rated export of cement and tobacco leaf to Central Asian Republics and Afghanistan via land route.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan denied Western diplomats access to a court where eight foreign aid workers were on trial for promoting Christianity, but Chief Justice Noor Mohammad Saqib said the defendants could hire foreign lawyers. He also said that the defendants could face hanging. Despite repeated requests, Australian, German and U.S. consuls in Kabul had been denied any meetings with Taliban authorities for a week.
Intense fighting erupted between Taliban forces and the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan in Kapisa province. Elsewhere, the Taliban captured two important areas, Khanqa and Sang-e-Bada southwest of Mahmood Raqi , provincial capital of Kapisa.
In Kabul, Afghanistan, the trial began for eight foreign aid workers, as the nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court held preliminary deliberations. Evidence included Bibles and video and audio tapes, along with investigation files from the religious police. Shelter Now denied its staff were involved in missionary work, however the Taliban claimed to have written confessions from the detainees. The accused were Georg Taubmann , Katrin Jelinek , Margrit Stebner and Silke Durrkopf , all German; Australians Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas ; and U.S. citizens Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer.
The United Nations called for fair trials for all 24 foreign and Afghan aid workers detained by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The detainees were charged with promoting Christianity.
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil assured relief organizations that, other than SERVE , International Assistance Mission , and Shelter Now International , no other foreign aid groups were under scrutiny for preaching Christianity.
About two dozen foreign aid workers were expelled from Afghanistan by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan for allegedly preaching Christianity. The workers were from the international aid organization SERVE and the U.S.-based International Assistance Mission .
The parents of U.S. citizens Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer visited their daughters for about 30 minutes accompanied by U.S. diplomat David Donahue . Curry, Mercer and six other foreign aid workers (two Germans and four Australians) with Shelter Now International on charges of spreading Christianity. Eight of the foreign aid workers were transferred late from Kabul's juvenile correction center to an unknown place.
