Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, Second Edition

by Ahmed Rashid

  6 July. Vice-President Haji Abdul Qadir is assassinated by gunmen in Kabul.

  5 September. President Hamid Karzai narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in Kandahar. The governor of Kandahar, Gul Agha Sherzai, is wounded.

  10 October. First general election in Pakistan since the 1999 military coup results in a hung parliament. Jamiat-e-Ulema, an Islamic party, wins two provinces bordering Afghanistan.

  Mullah Omar crosses the border to Quetta.

  2003

  20 January. First major battle in Kandahar between the Taliban and US forces.

  20 March. Invasion of Iraq by US forces backed by British and coalition forces.

  27 March. Ricardo Munguia, a water engineer for the International Committee of the Red Cross, is executed by the Taliban when his car is stopped.

  1 May. US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield says at a press conference with President Karzai in Afghanistan that the situation has moved from one of major combat to stability and stabilization.

  9 June. North West Frontier Province in Pakistan votes to introduce Sharia law.

  11 August. NATO takes control of security in Kabul, its first-ever operational commitment outside Europe.

  14 December. Bombs explode under a bridge seconds after President Musharrafís car passes over it. Loya Jirga decides upon a new constitution. UNDP annual report on Afghanistan estimates total opium production at 3,600 metric tonnes for 2003.

  2004

  March. Multiple suicide attacks in several Uzbek cities killing 47 people are attributed to ëIslamic Jihad Unioní.

  31 March. Afghanistan secures US$8.2 billion in aid over three years from donor countries pledged at a conference in Berlin.

  16 March. Pakistanís Frontier Corps is sent into South Waziristan and suffer heavy losses. Total casualties from this conflict are estimated at 200.

  24 April. The Pakistani Army signs a peace deal with Waziri militants.

  June. A second Pakistani military offensive takes place near the Afghan border against suspected Al Qaeda militants.

  18 June. Nek Mohammed, head of militants in South Waziristan killed by a US hellfire missile.

  16 September. President Karzai faces an assassination attempt when a rocket fred at his helicopter as it is landing at Gardez misses its target.

  3 November. Hamid Karzai is declared the winner of the presidential elections, with 55.4 per cent of the vote. There was an estimated 73 per cent turnout.

  UNDP annual report on Afghanistan estimates total opium production for 2004 at 4,200 metric tonnes.

  2005

  February. Hundreds of people are killed in the harshest winter weather in a decade.

  May. Details emerge of alleged prisoner abuse by US forces at detention centres.

  13 May. Uzbek troops fire on a demonstration in the Ferghana valley, killing approximately 850 people. The event is internationally condemned.

  1 June. Suicide bomber in police uniform kills 20 in a Kandahar mosque. 29 July. Uzbek President Islam Karimov closes the US Karshi-Khanabad airbase (K2) in Uzbekistan.

  September. Parliamentary and Provincial elections take place across Afghanistan.

  19 December. New parliament holds its inaugural session.

  December. ISAF forces begin to expand to the southern provinces. UNDP annual report on Afghanistan estimates total opium production for 2005 at 4,100 metric tonnes.

  2006

  January. Up to 18 people are killed in a US missile strike inside Pakistan, apparently targeting senior Al Qaeda figures, on a border village in the north.

  2 February. International donors meeting in London pledge more than US$10 billion in reconstruction aid over five years.

  29 May. Violent anti-USA protests in Kabul, the worst since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, erupt after a US military vehicle crashes and kills several people.

  May-June. Scores of people are killed in battles between Taliban fighters and Afghan and coalition forces in the south during an offensive known as ëOperation Mountain Thrustí.

  July onwards. NATO troops take over the leadership of military operations in the south. Fierce fighting ensues as the forces try to extend government control in areas where Taliban influence is strong.

  3 August. A suicide car bomber rams a NATO convey in Kandahar, killing

  21 people.

  26 August. Pakistan security forces kill prominent Baluchistan tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. Protests over his death turn violent.

  October. NATO assumes responsibility for security across the whole of

  Afghanistan, taking command in the east from a US-led coalition force.

  21 December. President Saparmurad Niyazov of Turkmenistan dies of a heart attack.

  23 December. Mullah Akhtar Usmani, former Taliban corps commander, killed in an airstrike in Helmand.

  In 2006 the Taliban burn down an estimated 187 schools and kill an estimated 85 teachers and 600 policemen. UNDP annual report on Afghanistan estimates the total opium production for 2006 at 6,100 metric tonnes.

  2007

  January. Islamabad rejects an assertion by the head of US National Intelligence that Al Qaeda leaders are hiding out in Pakistan.

  JanuaryJune. Tension mounts in Pakistan between the government and the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad.

  1 March. The ISI says that it has arrested Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, the third most senior member of the Taliban's leadership council, in Quetta.

  6 March. NATO and Afghan forces launch ëOperation Achillesí, their largest offensive against the Taliban in the south. There is heavy fighting in Helmand province.

  20 March. Controversy erupts over the Italiansí deal with the Taliban, which secures the release of five rebels in exchange for kidnapped reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo. His Afghan driver and translator are beheaded. MarchApril. Officials say around 250 people have been killed in fighting between South Waziristan tribesmen and foreign militants said to be linked to Al Qaeda.

  12 May. Taliban's most senior military commander, Mullah Dadullah, is killed during fighting with US and Afghan forces. Afghan and Pakistani troops clash in a simmering border dispute in the worst violence in decades.

  16 May. A bomb blast in a Peshawar hotel kills 24.

  10 July. Pakistani security forces storm the Red Mosque complex in Islamabad following a week-long siege.

  19 July. A group of 23 South Korean Christian charity workers is kidnapped by the Taliban.

  23 July. Former king and Father of the Nation Zahir Shah dies.

  27 August. UN reports that opium production is at a record high.

  28 August. The South Korean government agrees to stop Christian missionary work in Afghanistan, and 19 of the 23 South Koreans hostages are released.

  29 September. Suicide bombing of an army bus kills 30 Afghan Army recruits.

  6 October. President Musharraf wins the most votes in presidential election, but the Pakistani Supreme Court says that no winner can be formally announced until it rules on whether the general was eligible to stand for election while still army chief.

  7 October. In the second confirmed set of executions since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, 15 people are put to death.

  28 October. Nearly 200 people die in fighting with Islamic militants in North Waziristan, a stronghold of pro-Taliban and Al Qaeda groups.

  2 November. Afghan security forces kill Mawlawi Abdul Manan, a top-ranking commander allied to the Taliban.

  6 November. A suicide attack on a parliamentary delegation kills at least 41 in northern Afghanistan town of Baghlan.

  19 November. The new Supreme Court in Pakistan, now staffed with compliant judges, dismisses the challenges to President Musharraf's reelection.

  29 November. President Musharraf resigns from his army post and is sworn in for second term as president.

  25 December. Two senior EU and UN envoys are expelled from Afghanistan after being accused of contacting the Taliban.

  December. ëTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistaní is fo
rmed at a meeting of tribal militias in FATA.

  27 December. Benazir Bhutto is assassinated at election campaign rally in Rawalpindi.

  UNDP annual report on Afghanistan estimates total opium production for 2007 at 8,200 metric tonnes.

  2008

  January. Up to 90 fighters killed in clashes in the tribal region of South Waziristan.

  15 January. Bombing at the Serena Hotel in Kabul kills six people.

  3 April. NATO leaders meeting in Bucharest say peace-keeping mission in Afghanistan is their top priority, pledging ëfirm and shared long-term commitmentí.

  13 June. Taliban engineers mass breakout from Kandahar prison, freeing 1,100 inmates, including 400 Taliban members.

  16 June. British Defence Secretary Des Browne announces that Britain will increase its troops by 230 in Afghanistan to more than 8,000 by spring 2009.

  19 June. President Karzai warns that Afghanistan will send troops into Pakistan to fight militants if Islamabad fails to take action against them.

  7 July. Suicide bomb attack on Indian embassy in Kabul kills more than 50. Afghan government accuses Pakistani intelligence of being behind the attack. Pakistan denies any involvement.

  18 August. President Musharraf resigns.

  19 August. Ten French soldiers killed in an ambush by Taliban fighters.

  22 August. President Karzai accuses coalition forces of killing at least 89 civilians in an air strike in Herat.

  28 August. 100 Taliban are killed by Afghan- and US-led coalition forces in Helmand province.

  9 September. President Bush plans to send an extra 4,500 US troops to Afghanistan.

  6 September. Asif Ali Zardari elected by legislators as Pakistan's new president.

  16 October. Germany votes to extend Afghanistan mission to 2009 and increase troop numbers in Afghanistan by 1,000.

  17 November. Taliban rejects President Karzaiís offer of peace talks, saying there can be no negotiations until foreign troops leave Afghanistan.

  2009

  20 January. Barack Obama is sworn in as the new president of the United States of America.

  3 February. Kyrgyzstan gives the USA six months to leave the airbase at Manas that supplies troops and material to Afghanistan.

  18 February. USA announces dispatch of 17,000 extra troops to Afghanistan. Up to 20 NATO countries also pledge to increase military and other commitments.

  22 February. Pakistani government agrees to implement sharia law in north-western Swat valley in effort to persuade Islamist militants there to agree to permanent ceasefre.

  27 March. President Barack Obama unveils a new US strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. This involves sending an extra 4,000 US personnel to train and bolster the Afghan army and police, and increased support for civilian development.

  27 April. President Hamid Karzai confirms that he will stand for reelection in August. Pakistani government launches an offensive in the north-western regions after Swat agreement breaks down. 11 May. Commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, replaced with General Stanley McChrystal.

  23 May. A US-Afghan force arrests 60 militants and captures more than 100 tonnes of drugs in Helmand province.

  1 July. US army launches major offensive against the Taliban in southern Helmand province, involving about 4,000 marines and over more than Afghan soldiers.

  30 July. The Taliban call on Afghans to boycott the presidential and provincial elections.

  20 August. Elections are held, amid widespread Taliban attacks and claims of fraud.

  6 August. Baitullah Mehsud the leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is reported dead in US drone attack.

  15 August. Suicide attack on NATO headquarters in Kabul kills at least seven people.

  5 October. New Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud meets journalists to counter reports of his death. He pledges revenge for the drone attack that killed Baitullah Mehsud.

  5 October. UN World Food Programme in Islamabad bombed, killing four people.

  15 October. Militants launch three coordinated attacks on police and intelligence officials in Lahore

  Appendix 4

  The New Great Game

  Appendix 5

  Glossary of

  Afghan terms

  Amirul Momineen. Commander of the Faithful. An Islamic title.

  Baitul Mal. Islamic charitable fund raised from taxes paid by the public.

  Bara. A smuggler's market in Pakistan.

  Basmachi. Islamic guerrillas who resisted Soviet rule in Central Asia in the 1920s.

  Burkha. All-enveloping head-to-toe veil worn by Afghan women under the Taliban.

  Dari. The Afghan dialect of Persian.

  Fatwa. Legal ruling issued by ulema.

  Jihad. Effort or struggle to become a good Muslim. Also holy war to defend or spread Islam.

  Jirga. Council of tribal elders or whole tribe to discuss political and legal issues.

  Halal. The ritual Islamic way to kill an animal, by slitting its throat and letting the blood pour out.

  Istakhbarat. The Saudi Intelligence Service.

  Kafirs. Non-Muslims or unbelievers.

  Khan. Formerly a Pashtun tribal chief, now a common tribal name.

  Lashkar. Traditional tribal militia force.

  Loya Jirga. Great Council. The traditional meeting of tribal chiefs, ulema and other representatives to choose a new Afghan king. Also the primary law-making body in the country.

  Madrassa. Islamic schools which teach religious subjects.

  Malik. A Pashtun tribal notable. In the past used to be tribal or clan chief.

  Mehram. A male blood relative who should accompany a woman during travel, according to strict Islamic law.

  Mujaheddin. Holy warriors fighting jihad or holy war.

  Mullah. Traditional leader of prayer at local mosque.

  Munafaqeen. Muslims who are hypocrites.

  Nan. Unleavened baked bread. The staple diet of Afghans.

  Pashtunwali. The tribal social code of the Pashtuns often at odds with Sharia law.

  Pir. Honorific title given to the head of a Sufi sect.

  Qazi. Islamic judge who dispenses justice under Sharia law.

  Ramadan. The month of fasting in the Islamic calendar.

  Registan. Desert region.

  Serai. Staging post for camel caravans on the old Silk Route.

  Shalwar kameez. Baggy pants and long shirt worn by Afghan and Pakistani men and women.

  Shura. Islamic council.

  Sharia. The canon of Islamic law.

  Sufism. The mystical trend of Islam.

  Tor. High-grade opium.

  Ulema. Islamic scholars. Singular is alim.

  Ummah. The community of all Muslims, the wider Islamic world.

  Zakat. Islamic tax given to the poor, equivalent to 2.5 per cent of individual's personal wealth.

  Appendix 6

  Bibliography

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  Allworth, Edward, The Modern Uzbeks from the 14th Century to the Present, Hoover Institute Press 1990.

  Arney, George, Afghanistan, Mandarin, London 1990.

  Arnold, Anthony, The Fateful Pebble, Afghanistan's Role in the Fall of the Soviet Empire, Presidio Press, California 1993.

  Babur, Babur-Nama, translated by Nette Beveridge, Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore 1979.

  Battuta, Ibn, Travel in Asia and Africa 1325–1354, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1984.

  Bennigsen, Alexandre and Wimbush, Enders, Muslim National Communism in the Soviet Union, a Revolutionary Struggle for the Post-Colonial World, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1979.

  Bennigsen, Alexandre and Wimbush, Ender, Muslims of the Soviet Empire, C. Hurst and Co, London 1985.

  Bennigsen, Alexandre and Wimbush, Enders, Mystics and Commissars, Sufism in the Soviet Union, University of California Press, Berkeley 1985.

  Byron, Robert, The Road to Oxiana, Macmillan,
London 1937.

  Chase, Robert and Kennedy, Paul and Hill, Emily, The Pivotal States. A New Framework for US Policy in the Developing World, W. Norton and Co. 1999.

  Cordovez, Diego, and Harrison, Selig, Out of Afghanistan, The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal, Oxford University Press 1995.

  Dupree, Louis, Afghanistan, Princeton University Press 1980.

  Dupree, Nancy Hatch, A Historical Guide to Afghanistan,Afghan Tourist Organization, Kabul 1970.

  Dupree, Nancy Hatch, A Historical Guide to Kabul,Afghan Tourist Organization, Kabul 1970.

  Elleston, Harold, The General against the Kremlin. Alexander Lebed: Power and Illusion,Little Brown and Co., London 1998.

  Ghani, Abdul, A Brief Political History of Afghanistan,Najaf Publishers, Lahore 1989.

  Goodwin, Jan, Caught in the Crossfire,E.P. Dutton, New York 1987.

  Grousset, Rene, The Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia,Rutgers University 1970.

  Hopkirk, Peter, The Great Game,John Murray, London 1970.

  Hopkirk, Peter, Setting the East Ablaze,John Murray, London 1984.

  Huntington, Samuel P, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the New World Order,Simon and Shuster, New York 1966.

  Ignatieff, Michael The Warrior's Honor, Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience, Vintage, New York 1999.