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America Strikes Back: The Day's Developments

At 12.45 EDT, the United States and Britain acting in concert launched missile and air strikes against selected targets in Afghanistan. Airports, defence installations and ammunition dumps in Kabul, Kandahar and Jalalabad were targetted in this first attack. (Full Story)

Within half an hour, US President George W Bush, in a televised address from the Treaty Room of the White House, announced that US and British troops had begun "carefully targetted attacks" in Afghanistan. "The Taliban will pay a price," the US president warned. (Full transcript of the Bush speech

An hour later, a more intense wave of attacks focussed on Kandahar, unofficial headquarters of Taleban Supreme Commander Mullah Mohammad Omar. The strikes, involving fighters and bombers off British and US warships and also stealth bombers flying all the way over from bases in the US. Airports, defence establishments, radar installations and other strategic sites were targetted for the missile and bomb attacks. (Full Story

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a televised address said that the allied action would be prolonged. "We will not let up or rest until our objectives are met in full," Blair said. (Full transcript of the Blair speech).

In what seemed to be a clearly pre-planned move, the Northern Alliance forces began a tremendous push aimed at trying to capture Kabul. Sources indicate that the NA intends, when once in possession of Kabul, to proclaim exiled King Mohammad Zahir Shah the ruler of Afghanistan. (Full story.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a media briefing from the Pentagon pointed out that there was no single target in Afghanistan, that there was no magic silver bullet to end the war. The attacks will be continuous, and part of an overall plan, Rumsfeld, who was joined at the briefing by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers, said. Rumsfeld and Myers both indicated that C-17 transport planes were simultaneously involved in dropping aid packages over Afghanistan as part of the humanitarian effort. (Full story).

In what appeared to be a pre-recorded video message released to Al-Jazeera TV channel, Osama Bin Laden said that the US strikes "against Afghanistan and against me" were an attack on Islam, and called on all Muslims to support the Taleban in the war against the US. Further, bin Laden warned that the US should prepare itself to face more terrorist strikes. (Full story).

Elsewhere, Taleban Supreme Commander Mullah Mohammad Omar declared a jihad against the United States, soon after the first wave of air strikes hit Afghanistan. (Full story).

And Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taleban's envoy in Islamabad, claimed that the US-led strikes had resulted in the death of civilians in Kabul. (Full story)

The US administration warned its citizens to be prepared to face terrorist threats, even as Vice President Dick Cheney was moved to a secure location as part of the crisis management plan.

Though Pakistan air bases were not used in the attacks, with the US preferring to use its ship-based fighters and bombers, US airplanes did make use of pre-designated air corridors in Pakistan airspace. The Pakistan cabinet went into emergency session even as the first wave of attacks were on, and army units have fanned out across the country in order to cope with an anticipated backlash from pro-Taleban groups in the country. (Full story

In a move clearly timed to remove internal opposition to his own support for the US-led strikes, President General Musharraf forced two key army officials, including the powerful head of the Inter Services Intelligence, into premature retirement while kicking the influential vice chief of army staff upstairs into a purely ornamental position. All three officials, who were key supporters during Musharraf's October 1999 coup, were known to be sympathisers of both the Taleban and of terrorist outfits based in Pakistan. (Full story)

Neither India's airspace, nor Indian bases, were used in the US operation. However, indications are that New Delhi, like various other countries around the world, had been tipped off about the impending attacks -- probably during the call earlier Sunday morning from President Bush to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. India contented itself with voicing its support for the US initiative. Similar expressions of support came from world leaders across Europe and Russia.

Israel, which earlier in the week found itself in a head-on confrontation with the US over certain statements made by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, offered its total support and cooperation to US strikes on Afghanistan. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that his country would provide help, but was not an active participant in the war. (Full story)

Dissent came from Pak-based terrorist groups led by the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, and from Iran which called the strikes "unacceptable". The expectation is that as Monday dawns, and more importantly, as the faithful across Pakistan go in to prayer, the intensity of protests could begin to build.

Iraq President Saddam Hussein also condemned the US-led strikes in Afghanistan and said that the operation fell foul of international law. (Full story).

Though neither India nor Pakistan is at this present involved in any way in the ongoing operation, the importance of the sub-continent to the whole equation was underlined when it was announced that US Secretary of State Colin Powell would, in response to a request from President Bush, visit India and Pakistan next week. (Full story).

And finally, as dawn broke over Afghanistan, the US called halt to the first day's military activities. Pentagon sources indicated that the US would use satellite imaging and other such technology to assess the gains of the night's attack, before recalibrating targets for a second wave of assaults which is expected to begin once night falls in Taleban country. (Full story).

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