War in Afghanistan

The American-led Coalition against terrorism launched its war with air strikes against the al-Qaeda bases and Taliban-controlled installations in Afghanistan. Throughout the conflict RAF tanker, reconnaissance and surveillance flew sorties in support of US aircraft.

7 October 2001 5.27pm GMT
US and UK forces launch their assault on Afghanistan, RN submarine Trafalgar and Triumph both launch cruise missiles in the first wave of attacks. US cargo aircraft air drop humanitarian supplies to Afghan people.

8 October 2001
Osama bin Laden's favourite TV station broadcasts an interview with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The Allied blitz on the Taliban and al-Qaeda is backed by numerous countries, although Saudi Arabia remains silent and Iraq and Iran condemn the attacks.

9 October 2001
The British war cabinet meets for the first time, Prime Minister Blair, Deputy Prime Minister Prescott, Chancellor Gordon Brown, Defence Secretary Hoon, Foreign Secretary Straw and the Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Michael Boyce.

10 October 2001
The British Prime Minister addresses UK troops on exercise in Oman.

13 October 2001
Revealed that Britain has stockpiled 53 million doses of antibiotics to combat any anthrax attack on the UK.

16 October 2001
US jets bomb a Red Cross compound in Kabul.
The USAF deploys its AC-130 Spectre gunships against Taliban targets in Afghanistan.

19 October 2001
200 US Special Forces troops are parachuted into Afghanistan and engage Taliban forces in their first ground battle.

26 October 2001
US jets bomb a Red Cross compound in Kabul for the second time.
The Taliban executes a key Afghan opposition leader Abul Haq, an experienced Mujahideen commander.
President Bush brings in the Patriot Act - an anti-terror bill - which boosts police and FBI powers.
600 Royal Marine Commandos are added to the war in Afghanistan, sailing from Oman aboard HMS Fearless.

27 October 2001
Chancellor Gordon Brown gives £16 million to MI5 and MI6 to aid the war on terrorism.

4 November 2001
US forces continue bombarding Taliban forces.

5 November 2001
US Special forces and British SAS land in Afghanistan aboard a Russia-built Mi-17 to prepare a forward base for the advance on Kabul. Northern Alliance is just 40 miles from Kabul.

6 November 2001
Germany announces it is to send 4,000 troops to join the war in Afghanistan. The deployment is the first time the German troops will face battle since WW2.
Taliban soldiers display the wreck of a helicopter, which they claim is of US origin. The Pentagon denies that any helicopter has been lost over Afghanistan.

7 November 2001
Italy joins the war in Afghanistan, promising 2,700 troops. An aircraft carrier, combat aircraft and helicopters are included in the force.

9 November 2001
Supported by US aircraft the Northern Alliance smashed their way into Mazar-i-Sharif, a key city northwest of Kabul. In Pakistan al-Qaeda sympathisers riot and behead an effigy of Tony Blair.

11 November 2001
British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon admits that two SAS squadrons are in Afghanistan helping the Northern Alliance. He also confirms that al-Qaeda has obtained the ingredients to build a nuclear bomb.

13 November 2001
The Northern Alliance captures Kabul.

14 November 2001
US Special Forces rescue eight Western aid workers by helicopter.

15 November 2001
120 SBS reach Bagram Airport at noon, and begin guarding the airport.

16 November 2001
Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Mohammed Atef dies in a US air strike.

18 November 2001
Kabul TV station resumes transmitting, after a five year blackout under the Taliban.

25 November 2001
US troops pour into an airfield near Kandahar to aid the northern Alliance as it closes in on the last Taliban stronghold.

26 November 2001
Four SAS are injured in a gun fight in an al-Qaeda hideout near Kandahar.
The RAF fly out the Afghanistan delegations to Bonn for a conference on the interim government.

27 November 2001
British special forces join US Special Forces and Northern Alliance fighters in crushing a rebellion by hundreds of heavily armed Taliban POWs near Mazar-e-Sharif. Five US Special Forces are injured when a bomb from a US aircraft goes astray and 50 Alliance men are killed in the fighting. Red Cross alleges a massacre. Sources vary in which units of the British special forces and the number of POWs involved.
Russian troops arrive in Kabul with no prior warning.
Parliament passes an emergency anti-terrorism bill by 323 to 79.

3 December 2001
Australian SAS troops arrive in Afghanistan.

4 December 2001
America freezes funds of terror groups.

5 December 2001
Three US Green Berets are killed when a B-52 strike misses it's target and injures another nineteen men.
Four tribal groups sign a power-sharing agreement for an interim Afghanistan government, to be headed by moderate Pashtun chief Hamid Karzai.

12 December 2001
A USAF B-1 ditches 30 miles from Diego Garcia due to mechanical difficulties, the four crew are picked up by a helicopter from the destroyer USS Russell DDG59.

14 December 2001
US Marines take control of Kandahar Airport and begin minesweeping operations.
Belgian Foreign Minister claims the British-led multi-national peacekeeping force being assembled is an EU force. Denied by British foreign secretary.

16 December 2001
The last al-Qaeda stronghold, the cave complex at Tora Bora, is captured.

18 December 2001
US Marines raise the Stars and Stripes at the US Embassy in Kabul for the first time since 1989.

19 December 2001
The Defence Secretary confirms that the UK is prepared to lead the International Security Assistance Force.

22 December 2001
Afghanistan's interim government takes office.

30 December 2001
Peacekeeping force agreed for Afghanistan, more British troops reach Kabul.

31 December 2001
US Marines launch a raid on the headquarters of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. The headquarters are situated in mountains near Bagharn guarded by several thousand hard-line Taliban sympathisers.

3-4th January 2002
The Military Technical Agreement for the International Security Assistance Force is signed in Kabul, by the Afghan Minister Mohammed Yusuf Qanouni and Major General McColl, the British officer in charge of the Security Assistance Force.

4th January 2002
An Elite US soldier is killed in fighting near Khowst in eastern Afghanistan. Tony Blair arrives in India to try and prevent war between India and Pakistan, increased tensions having arisen since the suicide attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001.

5th January 2002
Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar escapes a US and anti-Taliban trap riding on a vintage Honda motorcycle.

6-7th January 2002
The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, visits Bagram Airfield, where he met Hamid Karzai and members of the multinational advance party in Kabul preparing for the deployment of the International Security Assistance Force.

8-14th January 2002
US aircraft attack targets in the Zhawar Kili complex.

8th January 2002
18 US special forces kill more than 1,300 Taliban and al-Qaeda soldiers in a fierce gun battle and with the assistance of air strikes.
An RAF C-130 is almost shot down by the Northern Alliance when it was carrying 100 British troops to Bagram Airfield.

9th January 2002
A US C-130 Hercules crashes in Afghanistan with the loss of all onboard.

10th January 2002
Twenty captured al-Qaeda are transported to the US Naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

18th January 2002
A USMC KC-130 tanker crashes in Pakistan; its seven crew members are reported to have been killed.
The Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, says Osama bin Laden is probably already dead from kidney failure after being denied regular dialysis treatment.

19-20th January 2002
USMC CH-53E helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, with two fatalities.

28th January 2002
US Special Forces and anti-Taliban forces storm a Kandahar hospital where al-Qaeda terrorists had been besieged in an empty ward, where they had been since being wounded in November 2001. Six terrorists are killed by the US Special Forces and anti-Taliban fighters. The hospital is the only one in Kandahar and medics were worried about the risks of working there with the terrorists holed up in the ward after Kandahar fell to anti-Taliban forces.

30th January 2002
The Afghan leader Hamid Karzai flies into London and appeals to Prime Minister Tony Blair for more troops for Afghanistan; the appeal is rejected but vows that the hunt for bin Laden will continue.

2nd February 2002
The first contingent of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry arrive in Kandahar from Edmonton, Alberta.

3rd February 2002
Prime Minister Tony Blair attacks British newspapers for suggesting that al-Qaeda terrorists held at Camp X-Ray in Cuba are being tortured by US Troops. These stories appear despite Red Cross visits to the camp, which were found to be satisfactory.

16th February 2002
A British patrol from 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, come under fire at an ISAF observation post in the very early morning as an unidentified gunman sped past in a car, the paratroopers returned fire after being fired upon. A civilian witness's story conflicts with the statement by the ISAF spokesman, saying that there was no gunfire from the car, which according to the civilian was carrying a pregnant woman. One man was later found dead in a nearby house and several others were wounded. The patrol was later extracted by an ISAF vehicle patrol.
Australian forces suffer the first non-US fatality; Sergeant Andrew Russel is killed in a landmine explosion.

21st February 2002
A British patrol from 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, come under fire in western Kabul in the morning as they were disembarking from their vehicles.

26th February 2002
British paratroopers of the ISAF open fire at a man who fires on an observation post in Kabaul, but no paratroopers were injured.

3rd March 2002
About 2,000 US and Afghan troops engage al-Qaeda forces gathering in northeastern Afghanistan as part of Operation Anaconda. One US trooper is killed in fighting. The US deploy a thermo baric bomb, which creates a fireball in caves or bunkers. About 100 Australian SAS troops are also engaged in this battle.

4th March 2002
Another seven US troops are killed in ongoing fighting in northeastern Afghanistan when their Chinook helicopter is shot down by a US-made Stinger missile and subsequent fighting. Australian SAS troops participate in the rescue of the downed US servicemen.

10th March 2002
In Operation Anaconda, Canadian troops from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry enter combat for the first time since the Korean War, under command of the US 101st Airborne Division.

18th March 2002
Operation Anaconda in eastern Afghanistan is announced as complete.
The Secretary of State for Defence announces that 45 Commando will join US and Canadian forces for operations in Afghanistan against the remaining pockets of al-Qaeda and Taliban forces.

21st March 2002
Royal Engineers complete a replacement bridge on a key road between Kabul and Bagram and the bridge is named after Captain Dundas VC, who fell in action near Kabul on 23 December 1879. He won the VC during the Bhutan expedition in 1865, leading the attack on an enemy blockhouse. The bridge is named "The Dundas Bridge".

23rd March 2002
The advance party of 45 Commando Group arrives in Bagram.

16th April 2002
Royal Marines from 45 Commando commence Operation Ptarmigan to search and clear a mountain valley where Taliban and al-Qaeda forces are believed to have operated in Afghanistan, support is provided by Chinooks of 27 Squadron, RAF.

2/5/02-13/5/02
Operation Snipe.

17/5/02-22/5/02
Operation Condor.

22-23/5/02
Unidentified gunmen attack a Royal Marine observation post. The Royal Marines return fire and inflict casualties.

23-24/5/02
US forces raid a suspected al-Qaeda/Taliban leadership compound west of Kandahar.

29/5/02-9/7/02
Operation Buzzard.

21-22/6/02A Royal Marine patrol discover a large arms cache hidden in a village.

3-4/7/02
The first elements from Task Force Jacana depart to return to the UK.

11-12/7/02
More elements from Task Force Jacana depart to return to the UK.

19-20/7/02
More elements from Task Force Jacana depart to return to the UK.

31/7-1/8/02
The final elements of Task Force Jacana return home.

5-6/9/02
An assassination attempt is made against Hamid Karzai in Kandahar, and bomb attacks are carried out by terrorists in Kabul.

RAF aircraft continue to support USAF, USN and USMC aircraft over Afghanistan.