Posted on 12/06/2001 11:28:04 PM PST by Grampa Dave
The War On Terror: How It Unfolded
Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has agreed to surrender Kandahar, his last major bastion, to tribal forces and put himself under the protection of tribal leaders.
Here is a timetable of the key events leading to the surrender:
September 11: Hijacked passenger jets slam into the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, killing thousands. Bin Laden and his al Qaeda terror network are immediately suspected as being behind the attacks.
September 12:US President George Bush announces he will make no distinction between the perpetrators of the atrocities and those who harbour them. Bin Laden congratulates the people who carried out the US strikes but denies responsibility, Abu Dhabi television reports.
September 13: Bin Laden confirmed as a suspect by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
September 14: Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime, defends bin Laden against US accusations that he masterminded the terror strikes.
September 15: The United States is officially declared at war by President Bush, who says that bin Laden is their prime suspect.
September 24: Governments across the world announce they are taking action to freeze the assets of bin Laden and the al Qaeda network. Television reports quote bin Laden as urging Pakistanis to fight any assault on Afghanistan by the "crusader Americans".
October 2: Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks to the Labour Party conference in Brighton, warning the Taliban it should surrender bin Laden or "surrender power". Nato says the US has produced "conclusive evidence" that bin Laden was behind the attacks.
October 4: Firm evidence links bin Laden to at least three of the hijackers, Mr Blair tells Parliament.
October 7: First reports of explosions over the Afghan capital. President Bush speaks to the American people, confirming the "carefully targeted" air strikes and announcing that the war on terrorism is under way. Prime Minister Tony Blair said "the objectives to eradicate Osama bin Laden's network of terror" had been put in place. Ruling Taliban officials say they are "ready for jihad" - holy war.
October 8: Bin Laden threatens more violence against America saying: "You will not feel safe or secure." Speaking on Al Jazeera he calls on Muslims around the world to join a war on America.
October 10: Bin Laden's terror group al Qaeda calls for Muslims across the world to join a holy war against America and its allies, and claims there are "thousands of young people who look forward to death." Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime is showing signs of cracking under the strain of coalition air strikes, British defence sources claim. As US warplanes began a fourth straight night of bombing raids on Taliban defences, officials in London said the regime could collapse without the need to send in ground troops.
October 13: Taliban rulers reject Mr Bush's second chance offer to surrender bin Laden and instead pledge to fight to "the last breath".
October 16: US officials confirm for first time that a heavily-armed special forces AC-130 Spectre gunships have been in action attacking Taliban military bases. The lumbering AC-130 - adapted from the Hercules transport aircraft - is typically used to support special forces troops on the ground, intensifying speculation that such units are already operating inside Afghanistan.
October 17: The US-led coalition begins to turn its firepower on Taliban troops fighting the rebel Northern Alliance in an effort to turn the screws on the Afghan regime. Northern Alliance fighters are reported to be close to capturing the key northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif and to be threatening the capital, Kabul.
October 19: The Taliban leadership continues to voice defiance after it emerges that US special forces are now operating behind the lines inside Afghanistan.
October 20: US special forces are parachuted into enemy territory, killing Taliban troops and destroying key targets in ground attacks. Later reports claim that the operation was bungled and led to 12 American soldiers being injured.
October 22: Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon confirms that US warplanes have now turned their attention to Taliban positions facing Northern Alliance forces around the Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
October 23: Mr Hoon says that all the al Qaeda terrorist training camps have been destroyed by the air strikes.
October 29: The Pentagon says US warplanes have begun systematically bombing the cave complexes where bin Laden and his key lieutenants are believed to be hiding out.
November 3: Bin Laden issues new call to arms to Muslims to defeat the "infidels" attacking Afghanistan as the US-led coalition steps up the bombardment of his Taliban allies.
November 4: More elite US special forces troops are deployed into Afghanistan as America claims Taliban has ceased to function as an effective government. Northern Alliance rebel fighters say they have mounted a major offensive on Mazar-e-Sharif.
November 9: Northern Alliance warlord Rashid Dostum says his forces have smashed through Taliban defences and recaptured Mazar-e-Sharif. November 13: Limited numbers of Northern Alliance soldiers enter Kabul after Taliban troops are reported to have fled. The hunt for bin Laden intensifies.
November 20: As the Taliban continue to retreat US aircraft broadcast radio messages to the Afghan people calling on them to turn over bin Laden and claim a massive reward.
November 22: US special forces step up the hunt for bin Laden, using high tech sensors which can see in the dark and pierce 100ft of solid rock.
November 23: American military chiefs draw up a `hit list' of cave networks where the terrorist leader may be hiding based on information from spy planes, satellites and patrols from special forces.
November 26: Several British troops are wounded in Afghanistan as they serve alongside US forces, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon tells MPs.
November 27: US Marines seize an airstrip near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and set up a base to launch attacks on the city. Anti-Taliban forces backed by US air strikes and special forces put down an uprising near Mazar-e-Sharif, where hundreds of pro-Taliban foreigners who surrendered from the besieged town of Kunduz had turned on their guards.
December 3: Pentagon chiefs order hi-tech missiles which will be be able to pierce the almost impregnable Tora Bora complex, where bin Laden is reported to be living.
December 4: US spies find evidence bin Laden and the al Qaeda network have made strides towards producing a crude atomic bomb, known as a dirty bomb. The device does not use a nuclear explosion but conventional means to spread large doses of radiation over a wide area.
December 6: Taliban supreme leader Mohammed Omar agrees to surrender Kandahar to tribal forces. The last major stronghold of the Taliban falls.
Last Modified: 17:05 UK, Thursday December 06, 2001
Thanks for the ping, JH2!
You might be interested in my comments to a post by SamWolf, (Omar would be welcomed in Portland, Oregon!)
Geraldo Rivera was in a 10-minute phone report to a Los Angeles radio talk show host this morning criticizing the way the military is doing things and he said 'I don't want to tell anyone how to run Afghanistan but....'. Isn't THAT special?????????
Thank God for President Bush and his super-effective staff. Thank God for our outstanding military people.
Thanks,Grampa
It didn't taking Whorealdo long to start undercutting the military. In two weeks if we still are hunting OBL, Whorealdo will not be able to be with any military unit!
The only time they would use him is as a mine detector!
Too many conservatives see this left wing ding as a good guy! Anyone who supported and backed Clintoon as Whorealdo did during the Moniker Licking episode and the impeachment hearings, is a scumbag!
The best!
Guys like you make it so.
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