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the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed
Mullah Omar had the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed, taken from its shrine "for the first time in 60 years." Wrapping himself in the relic, he appeared on the roof of a building in the center of Kandahar while hundreds of Pashtun mullahs below shouted "Amir al-Mu'minin!" (Commander of the Faithful), in a de facto pledge of support. -
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Women endure more punishments
A woman has the tip of her thumb cut off for wearing nail varnish. -
Women banned from public baths
Women are barred from accessing the traditional hammam, public baths, as the opportunities for socialising were prescribed as un-Islamic. -
Bans begin
Religious Police ban a variety of things and activities: music, shaving of beards, keeping of pigeons, flying kites, displaying of pictures or portraits, western hairstyles, music and dancing at weddings, gambling, "sorcery," and not praying at prayer times. -
Women punished for violating dress code
Radio Shari’a announces that 225 Kabul women had been seized and punished for violating the sharia code of dress. The sentence was handed down by a tribunal and the women were lashed on their legs and backs for their misdemeanor. -
Beating of female CARE International employees
Five female CARE International employees with authorisation from the Ministry of the Interior to conduct research for an emergency feeding programme are forced from their vehicle by members of the religious police. The guards used a public address system to insult and harass the women before striking them with a metal and leather whip more than 5 feet in length. -
More regulations on women
Religious Police force all women off the streets of Kabul and issue new regulations ordering "householders to blacken their windows, so women would not be visible from the outside."[ Home schools for girls, which had been allowed to continue, were forbidden. -
Women banned from hospitals
Taliban stops all women from attending general hospitals, leaving the use of one all-women hospital in Kabul. There are many reports of Muslim women being beaten by the Taliban for violating their version of the Sharia. -
Taliban attack on Mazar-i-Sharif
Taliban sweeps north from Herat to the predominantly Hazara and Uzbek city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest city in the north. For the next two days the Taliban drive their pickup trucks "up and down the narrow streets of Mazar-i-Sharif shooting to the left and right and killing everything that moved — shop owners, cart pullers, women and children shoppers and even goats and donkeys. -
Execution of a mother
A mother of seven is executed in front of 30,000 spectators in Kabul’s Ghazi Sport stadium for the murder of her abusive husband. She was imprisoned for 3 years and extensively tortured prior to the execution; yet she refused to plead her innocence in a bid to protect her daughter, reportedly the actual culprit. -
National Museum of Afghanistan destruction
Taliban used sledgehammers to destroy representational works of art at the National Museum of Afghanistan. -
Destruction of Buddha statues
The Buddhas of Bamiyan Taliban orders the demolition of two statues of Buddhas carved into cliffsides at Bamiyan, one 125 feet tall and carved in 507 CE, the other 174 feet tall and carved in 554 CE. -
Taliban toppled
The United States, aided by the United Kingdom, Canada, and supported by a coalition of other countries including several from the NATO alliance, initiates military actions in Afghanistan, and bombs Taliban and Al Qaeda related camps. -
Rock the Vote
Afghan pop star Farhad Darya performs in Kabul at an event encouraging young voters to cast their ballots. However, musicians and artists are still targets of Islamic fundamentalists. A season three runner up of "Afghan Star" , Lima Sahar, is in exile fearing for her life since recieving death threats.
