2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, The acceptance of office of Nasi by Rabbi Steinsaltz
Under the influence of Rabbi Steinsaltz, the Sanhedrin project shifted away from idealistic projects of its first year and tried to move toward broadening participation. Steinsaltz requested that the new Sanhedrin not be referred to as "the Sanhedrin", but requested modest references to the current institution as the nascent Sanhedrin, the developing Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrin project, or simply the Rabbinical Court of 71 judges (Beis din shel 71). Steinsaltz was reportedly changing the direction of the new Sanhedrin, widening the scope and acceptance of the Court with the intention of moving towards becoming the full Sanhedrin.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, The acceptance of office of Nasi by Rabbi Steinsaltz
According to their website, the strategy to gain wider acceptance and "provide a smooth transition from current halachic leadership to a full Sanhedrin", is to follow these guidelines: absolute adherence to traditional Rabbinic authorities and procedure; caution and conservatism; independence from any other organization; scholarship; and an open dialog with the Torah sages and current halachic leadership (with the eventual goal of their participation). On their forum it was put this way, "the [new] Sanhedrin should hold no surprises. It should be as comfortable as opening a Gemara [Talmud] or as familiar as reading the Shulchan Arukh. It should be the embodiment of Judaism as we know it today."


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, The current Sanhedrin's view of government
The new Sanhedrin's website portrays the Sanhedrin as a form of Rabbinic Parliament, part of a bicameral system that they claim reflects traditional Jewish government. They claim that this model has influenced the organizational structure of many Western European legislatures. They describe the roles of an upper and lower house:


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, The current Sanhedrin's view of government
The Sanhedrin would function as an equal legislative body to a democratically elected body, but it would also function as a supreme judicial body with regard to interpreting basic law, or what they call a "Torah Constitution". It appears that this structure in the Sanhedrin context implies a democracy functioning within a Torah Constitution. From an Israeli point of view this implies adding a second house to the Legislature, changing the Knesset electoral system from nationwide Proportional Representation to First-past-the-Post voting, and declaring a Basic Law requiring Israeli civil law to function within Jewish law.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, The current Sanhedrin's view of government, Torah constitution
This agenda requires a focus on efforts to institute a theocratic or critocratic system of government in which "the authority of government depends on Jewish law", so that secular government institutions and laws would be subordinate to, and function within, Jewish law as determined by the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin has declared itself to have authority to veto democratically enacted laws which it determines are contrary to the laws of Torah. It has made this very clear in, among other pronouncements, its "Decision of the Sanhedrin concerning the State Elections". The Sanhedrin announced that it is seeking a state in which any matters contrary to what Jewish law defines are "issues that cannot be decided by vote":


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, The current Sanhedrin's view of government, Torah constitution
Torah "Basic Law": Laws which are contrary to the laws of the Torah are not laws of the Jewish people, and therefore they are invalid. Any law which is contrary to the laws of Torah, legislated by the "Knesset" (including legislated amendments) or interpreted as such by judicial sources is a disqualified law. The authority to decide in these matters has been unconditionally expropriated by the central religious court based on the Torah (Bible) [ the Sanhedrin].


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, The current Sanhedrin's view of government, Torah constitution
In an exercise of its claim to authority over "matters concerning the Land of Israel", the Sanhendrin has issued a series of decisions declaring the Israeli pullout from Gaza invalid. In a statement, the Sanhedrin prohibited Jews from cooperating with the Government, saying: "The Prime Minister's program of uprooting stands in direct contradiction to the Torah of Israel", "the decision of this government ... is null and void", "No Jew is permitted to cooperate" and "Any Jew – including a soldier or policeman – who supports the uprooting ... transgresses a large number of Torah commandments."


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, The current Sanhedrin's view of government, Torah constitution
Commenting on the war against Hizbollah in August 2006, the new Sanhedrin also claimed that it is the only authorized national institution to deal with the legal aspects of warfare and to give policy directives to the State concerning warfare. It claims that enacting legislation concerning warfare always has been a distinguishing feature of the historical Sanhedrin.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, The current attempted Sanhedrin's actions
A great deal of discussion on the Sanhedrin forum appears to indicate that the new Sanhedrin is currently taken up with philosophical discussions about the theory of Jewish Law. The point is repeatedly made that the Sanhedrin "must solve many complex halakhic issues" before it can begin to make any statement or decision in terms of Jewish law. It claims its projects are "coordinated in complete consultation with the Gedolei Hador (leading halachic authorities of the generation) as well as with the Israeli Government Authorities, academics and professionals....


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, The current attempted Sanhedrin's actions
The Sanhedrin Initiative seeks to empower Jews to perform national mitzvot that thanks to technological advances and/or sociological developments are currently or imminently in the realm of the possible. The Initiative is staffed by accomplished scholars and academics striving to promote dignified Jewish freedom of religious expression which is consistent with the values of Western democracy. The Sanhedrin Initiative adheres to the criteria of halakha (Jewish law), expertise, amenity and peace in... all its... projects." The Hebrew version adds that it "has no connection with extremist groups, right wing political parties, or those who disregard Jewish law." Events as portrayed by the media, however, have not always fit this picture:


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy
According to their website, they explain that they do not seek controversy. Their spokesman said, "The rebirth of the Sanhedrin is a slow, ongoing process. Although it makes headlines and many like to highlight its controversy, it is in truth a humble project by rabbis from all sides of the Torah world joining together simply to fulfill a Torah commandment. Rather than a source of religious division, G-d forbid, it is a vehicle to bring about Jewish unity and civil justice, to help repair some of the deepest rifts in our society, and to provide an active, exemplary and unified Torah leadership so lacking in our times."


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy
While not actually creating division among the different Jewish groups, the new Sanhedrin has generated a great deal of debate about its purpose and potential. While most Jews see the new Sanhedrin as an attempt by a fringe group to re-establish the Temple, some have seen it as a potential vehicle to champion a specific cause.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the National Religious camp
The National Religious camp took great interest in the new Sanhedrin with the hope that it may be useful in preventing the disengagement from Gaza. The Arutz-7 news service ran approximately 30 articles covering the actions of the new Sanhedrin in a positive light. The new Sanhedrin came out with several strongly worded, yet muted, rulings against "disengagement". They strongly disagreed with the government action, advocated non-violent protests, but fell short of condoning any form of stronger protest to prevent expulsion from Gaza or Hebron as had been hoped for by some members of the National Religious camp. Coverage of the new Sanhedrin since "disengagement" by the Arutz-7 news service has been almost non-existent since that event.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the National Religious camp
During the 2006 Israeli elections, the new Sanhedrin was widely expected by the National Religious to fully endorse the political party of Baruch Marzel. Instead the Sanhedrin released a general statement, echoing statements by most of the Hareidi parties, that "one is obligated to vote, and one must vote for a religious party".


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the National Religious camp
In 2006, representative leadership of the new Sanhedrin issued a statement against the permissibility of conscientious objection to participation in the war in Lebanon with mixed reactions from the National Religious camp.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the Haredi camp, Haredi Leadership
When Rabbi Yehudah Leib Maimon in 1949 tried to form a Sanhedrin out of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, leading rabbis of the Haredi world repeatedly voiced their strong opposition in a number of declarations. The Brisker Rav, the Chazon Ish and others were some of the more vocal opponents of that initiative. Rabbi Avraham Yeshayah Karelitz, (the Chazon Ish) quotes the Radvaz that no one is fit to renew the Sanhedrin. He concluded that any discussion of the topic in this "orphaned generation" is ludicrous.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the Haredi camp, Haredi Leadership
However, although there is clear Haredi opposition to the new 'Sanhedrin', unlike the case of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Maimon's attempt, there has been no official response by any Haredi leader or Jewish Court (Beit Din) to this 'Sanhedrin'. The 'Sanhedrin' itself claims that the current attempt is very different from the previous attempt and that leading sages like Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Moshe Halberstam, and Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, have expressed support for, and consented to, the renewal of Semikhah. To date, none of these Rabbis have commented on these claims. It has been met, in public at least, by silence. The new Sanhedrin itself and its supporters claim that it proves there is quiet support. The Haredi community however interprets this to mean that the new Sanhedrin is simply another fringe group not worthy of comment, or even a fabrication.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the Haredi camp, Haredi community and media
The lack of response by the leadership has given pause, but has generally reinforced the feeling in the Haredi world that the 'Sanhedrin' is a complete non-issue, and it is generally ignored by the Haredi press. It is considered a fringe group and is considered unrelated to the Haredi community.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the Haredi camp, Haredi community and media
The members of the new Sanhedrin are not considered as belonging to the Haredi community. The Lithuanian Haredi Yated newspaper, which expresses the official opinion of the Lithuanian Haredi rabbinical establishment, has run several articles condemning Rabbi Yisrael Ariel and his 'Temple Institute' using the expression "poisonous opinions". It appears, however, that this opinion is not shared by all the Haredi communities. The Yated has also run articles condemning Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, referring to strongly worded comments made by Rabbi Elazar Shach in 1989. It is clear that Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz' untraditional and 'university oriented' approach is at odds with the Haredi approach. While not all  have generated such controversy, and some members like Rabbi Yoel Schwartz are generally recognized as scholars within the Haredi community, they are generally unknown figures.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the Haredi camp, Haredi community and media
In addition, the new Sanhedrin is seen as identifying with the extreme-right factions of the National Religious movement because some of its members ascended to a portion of the Temple Mount. While there is disagreement between various orthodox groups on this point, and Maimonides and the Radbaz ascended to the Temple Mount, modern Haredi legal opinions as well as many National-Religious authorities, including the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, do not allow this. As Yated Neeman writes, "all halachic authorities categorically forbid it."


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the Haredi camp, Conclusion
Although the new Sanhedrin claims that it is in touch and even coordinating with some Haredi leaders, no basis to support these claims can be found. The overriding response to the new Sanhedrin by the Haredi community has been driven by the fact that leadership of the new Sanhedrin is unknown or controversial, and the decisions of the new Sanhedrin are perceived as identifying with the extreme wings of the National Religious community. The Haredi community tends to simply ignore the new Sanhedrin or ridicule it.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, Yemenite opinion
Rabbi Yosef Qafih, former Chief Rabbi of Yemen, wrote in his commentary to the Mishnah tractate Sanhedrin that it would be a very good thing to reinstate the Sanhedrin in our days. However, he held, according to the position of the Rambam, that this could only be done by assembling all leading Torah scholars physically together at one time.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the Kahanist camp
Rabbi Nachman Kahane is a leading member of the new Sanhedrin. His brother Rabbi Meir Kahane was widely known for his outspoken political views. Rabbi Nachman Kahane, a graduate of Yeshivat Mir, is not known for his political views and is generally acknowledged to be an accomplished Torah scholar by the Mizrachi (Religious Zionism) and Haredi communities.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the Kahanist camp
The new Sanhedrin is often mentioned on political websites run by movements associated with the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, and in general it seems that they support both the concept of the new Sanhedrin, and the possibility of religious government of the State of Israel.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the "Temple Mount Faithful" camp
In the first year of operation, the new Sanhedrin was involved with discussions about the Temple Mount. It formed a committee to collect opinions as to its exact location. Some of its members ascended to a portion of the Temple mount that was added by Herod and considered by rabbis associated with the Temple Mount Faithful movement to be permitted to Jews. This visit culminated in a declaration that the "Jewish people should begin collecting supplies for the rebuilding of the Temple".


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the "Temple Mount Faithful" camp
Since the acceptance of the position of Nasi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, discussion of issues concerning the Temple Mount has greatly diminished.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred within the "Temple Mount Faithful" camp
These early actions by the new Sanhedrin were announced and followed closely by websites associated with the Temple Mount Faithful movement. However, for at least a year since the new Sanhedrin's "Temple supplies" declaration, it appears that no additional material or discussions concerning the new Sanhedrin have been added to these websites.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred among non-Jews, especially Evangelical Protestants
Some Christians, like evangelist Hal Lindsey see the reinstated Sanhedrin as good news, believing that the Sanhedrin would be responsible for the rebuilding of the Temple, which would eventually be desecrated by the false Messiah during the end times and inhabited by the true Messiah during the period of Christian eschatology referred to as the Millennial Reign.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred among non-Jews, especially Evangelical Protestants
The Sanhedrin has also selected a group of non-Jewish advisors, scholars and teachers from the Noahide movement - including Vendyl Jones, to form a High Council of Noahides responsible for outreach education from within the non-Jewish world.


2004 attempt to revive the Sanhedrin, Controversy, The debate stirred among non-Jews, especially Evangelical Protestants
Christian apocalyptic and eschatalogical claims about the End Times, the Last Judgment, and the End of the World, have inspired a wide a range of conspiracy theories. Many of these deal with the Antichrist, the foremost figure of worldly evil from the Book of Revelation. This Antichrist is supposed to be a leader who will create a world empire and oppress Christians. The new Sanhedrin and its connection with the Noachide movement have become the subject of speculation by numerous apocalyptic conspiracy theories on the Internet.


2004 elections in India, Legislative Assembly elections
Elections to the State Legislative Assemblies were held in six Indian states during 2004. Four (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Sikkim) had assembly election simultaneous with the Lok Sabha elections in April–May. In Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh elections were held September–October.


2004 elections in India, Legislative Assembly elections, Andhra Pradesh
The elected independents include one member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) New Democracy.


2004 electoral calendar
This electoral calendar 2004 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2004 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not included.


2004 end-of-year rugby union internationals
The 2004 end of year tests, also known as the 2004 Autumn Internationals, international rugby union matches that takes place during November/December period between touring teams from the southern hemisphere. These consist of Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, and South Africa and one or more teams from the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. South Pacific team also toured the northern hemisphere as well as Tier 2 European sides.


2004 end-of-year rugby union internationals
Many trophies were contested in this year's series, the main one being the Cook Cup between England and Australia. Australia won the Cook Cup match 21-19 and so won the cup for the first time since 1999.


2004 end-of-year rugby union internationals
South Africa attempted a grand slam tour but lost to England and Ireland.


2004 enlargement of the European Union
The largest expansion of the European Union (EU), in terms of territory, number of states, and population took place on 1 May 2004.


2004 enlargement of the European Union
The simultaneous accessions concerned the following countries (sometimes referred to as the "A10" countries): Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Seven of these were part of the former Eastern Bloc (of which three were from the former Soviet Union and four were and still are members of the Central European alliance Visegrád Group). Slovenia was a non-aligned country prior to the independence, and it was one of the former republics of Yugoslavia (together sometimes referred to as the "A8" countries), and the remaining two were Mediterranean islands and two Members of Commonwealth of Nations.


2004 enlargement of the European Union
Part of the same wave of enlargement was the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, who were unable to join in 2004, but, according to the Commission, constitute part of the fifth enlargement.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Background
With the end of the Second World War in May 1945, Europe found itself divided between a capitalist Western Bloc and a communist Eastern Bloc, as well as Third World neutral countries. The European Economic Community (EEC) was created in 1957 between six countries within the Western Bloc and later expanded to twelve countries across Europe. European communist countries had a looser economic grouping with the USSR known as Comecon. To the south there was a non-aligned communist federated country – Yugoslavia.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Background
Between 1989 and 1991, the Cold War between the two superpowers was coming to an end, with the USSR's influence over communist Europe collapsing. As the communist states began their transition to free market democracies, aligning to Euro-Atlantic integration, the question of enlargement into the continent was thrust onto the EEC's agenda.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Negotiations
The Phare strategy was launched soon after to adapt more the structure of the Central and Eastern European countries (Pays d'Europe Centrale et Orientale (PECO)) to the European Economic Community. One of the major tools of this strategy was the Regional Quality Assurance Program (Programme Régional d'Assurance Qualité (PRAQ)) which started in 1993 to help the PECO States implement the New Approach in their economy.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Negotiations
The Acquis Communautaire contained 3,000 directives and some 100,000 pages in the Official Journal of the European Union to be transposed. It demanded a lot of administrative work and immense economic change, and raised major cultural problems – e.g. new legal concepts and language consistency problems.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Accession
Malta held a non-binding referendum on 8 March 2003; the narrow Yes-vote prompted a snap election on 12 April 2003 fought on the same question and after which the pro-EU Nationalist Party retained its majority and declared a mandate for accession.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Accession
Poland held a referendum on 7 and 8 June 2003:


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Accession
The Treaty of Accession 2003 was signed on 16 April 2003, at the Stoa of Attalus in Athens, Greece, between the then-EU members and the ten acceding countries. The text also amended the main EU treaties, including the Qualified Majority Voting of the Council of the European Union. The treaty was ratified on time and entered into force on 1 May 2004 amid ceremonies around Europe.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Accession
European leaders met in Dublin for fireworks and a flag-raising ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish presidential residence. At the same time, citizens across Ireland enjoyed a nationwide celebration styled as the Day of Welcomes. President Romano Prodi took part in celebrations on the Italian-Slovenian border at the divided town of Gorizia/Nova Gorica, at the German-Polish border, the EU flag was raised and Ode to Joy was sung and there was a laser show in Malta among the various other celebrations.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Accession
Limerick, Ireland's third largest City, hosted Slovenia as one of ten Cities and Towns to individually welcome the ten accession countries. The then Slovenian Prime Minister Anton Rop was Guest Speaker at a business luncheon hosted by Limerick Chamber.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Progress
1 EU Association Agreement type: Europe Agreement for the states of the Fifth Enlargement.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, History, Progress
s – screening of the chapterfs – finished screeningf – frozen chaptero – open chapterx – closed chapter


2004 enlargement of the European Union, Free movement issues
As of May 2011, there are no longer any special restrictions on the free movement of citizens of these new member states.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, Free movement issues
With their original accession to the EU, free movement of people between all 25 states would naturally have applied. However, due to concerns of mass migration from the new members to the old EU-15, some transitional restrictions were put in place. Mobility within the EU-15 (plus Cyprus) and within the new states (minus Cyprus) functioned as normal (although the new states had the right to impose restrictions on travel between them).


2004 enlargement of the European Union, Free movement issues
Between the old and new states, transitional restrictions up to 1 May 2011 could be put in place, and EU workers still had a preferential right over non-EU workers in looking for jobs even if restrictions were placed upon their country. No restrictions were placed on Cyprus or Malta. The following restrictions were put in place by each country;


2004 enlargement of the European Union, Free movement issues
Despite the fears, migration within the EU concerns less than 2% of the population. However, the migration did cause controversy in those countries which saw a noticeable influx, creating the image of a "Polish Plumber" in the EU, caricaturing the cheap manual labour from A8 countries making an imprint on the rest of the EU. The extent to which E8 immigration generated a lasting public backlash has been debated.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, Free movement issues
Ten years after the enlargement, a study showed that increases in E8 migrants in Western Europe over the last ten years had been accompanied by a more widespread acknowledgement of the economic benefits of immigration. Following the 2007 enlargement, most countries placed restrictions on the new states, including the most open in 2004 (Ireland and the United Kingdom) with only Sweden, Finland and the 2004 members (minus Malta and Hungary). But by April 2008, these restrictions on the eight members had been dropped by all members except Germany and Austria.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, Remaining areas of inclusion
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia became members on 1 May 2004, but some areas of cooperation in the European Union will apply to some of the EU member states at a later date. These are:


2004 enlargement of the European Union, New member states, Cyprus
Since 1974 Cyprus has been divided between the Greek south (the Republic of Cyprus) and the northern areas under Turkish military occupation (the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus). The Republic of Cyprus is recognised as the sole legitimate government by every UN (and EU) member state except Turkey, while the northern occupied area is recognised only by Turkey.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, New member states, Cyprus
Cyprus began talks to join the EU, which provided impetus to solve the dispute. With the agreement of the Annan Plan for Cyprus, it was hoped that the two communities would join the EU together as a single United Cyprus Republic. Turkish Cypriots supported the plan. However, in a referendum on 24 April 2004 the Greek Cypriots rejected the plan. Thus, a week later, the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU with political issues unresolved. Legally, as the northern republic is not recognised by the EU, the entire island is a member of the EU as part of the Republic of Cyprus, though the de facto situation is that the Government is unable to extend its controls into the occupied areas.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, New member states, Poland
Accession of Poland to the European Union took place in May 2004. Poland had been negotiating with the EU since 1989.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, New member states, Poland
With the fall of communism in 1989/1990 in Poland, Poland embarked on a series of reforms and changes in foreign policy, intending to join the EU and NATO. On 19 September 1989 Poland signed the agreement for trade and trade co-operation with the (then) European Community (EC). Polish intention to join the EU was expressed by Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki in his speech in the European Parliament in February 1990 and in June 1991 by Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Krzysztof Skubiszewski in Sejm (Polish Parliament).


2004 enlargement of the European Union, New member states, Poland
On 19 May 1990 Poland started a procedure to begin negotiations for an association agreement and the negotiations officially began in December 1990. About a year later, on 16 December 1991 the European Union Association Agreement was signed by Poland. The Agreement came into force on 1 February 1994 (its III part on the mutual trade relations came into force earlier on 1 March 1992).


2004 enlargement of the European Union, New member states, Poland
As a result of diplomatic interventions by the central European states of the Visegrád group, the European Council decided at its Copenhagen summit in June 1993 that: "the associate member states from Central and Eastern Europe, if they so wish, will become members of the EU. To achieve this, however, they must fulfil the appropriate conditions." Those conditions (known as the Copenhagen criteria, or simply, membership criteria) were:


2004 enlargement of the European Union, New member states, Poland
At the Luxembourg summit in 1997, the EU accepted the Commission's opinion to invite Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus to start talks on their accession to the EU. The negotiation process started on 31 March 1998. Poland finished the accession negotiations in December 2002. Then, the Accession Treaty was signed in Athens on 16 April 2003 (Treaty of Accession 2003). After the ratification of that Treaty in the 2003 Polish European Union membership referendum, Poland and other 9 countries became the members of EU on 1 May 2004.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, Impact
12 years after the enlargement, the EU is still "digesting" the change. The influx of new members has effectively put an end to the Franco-German engine behind the EU, as its relatively newer members, Poland and Sweden, set the policy agenda, for example Eastern Partnership. Despite fears of paralysis, the decision making process has not been hampered by the new membership and if anything the legislative output of the institutions has increased, however justice and home affairs (which operates by unanimity) has suffered. In 2009 the Commission sees the enlargement as a success, however until the enlargement is fully accepted by the public future enlargements may be slow in coming. In 2012 data published by the Guardian shows that that process is complete.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, Impact
The internal impact has also been relevant. The arrival of additional members has put an additional stress on the governance of the Institutions, and increased significantly overheads (for example, through the multiplication of official languages). Furthermore, there is a division of staff, since the very same day of the enlargement was chosen to enact an in-depth reform of the Staff Regulation, which was intended to bring significant savings in administrative costs. As a result, employment conditions (career & retirement perspectives) worsened for officials recruited after that date. Since by definition officials of the "new" Member States were recruited after the enlargement, these new conditions affected all of them (although they also affect nationals of the former 15 Member States who have been recruited after 1 May 2004).


2004 enlargement of the European Union, Impact
Before the 2004 enlargement, the EU had twelve treaty languages: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. However, due to the 2004 enlargement, nine new official languages were added: Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Hungarian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Maltese.


2004 enlargement of the European Union, Impact
A 2007 study in the journal Post-Soviet Affairs argued that the 2004 enlargement of the EU contributed to the consolidation of democracy in the new member states. In 2009, Freie Universität Berlin political scientist Thomas Risse wrote, "there is a consensus in the literature on Eastern Europe that the EU membership perspective had a huge anchoring effects for the new democracies."


2004 financial buildings plot
The 2004 financial buildings plot was a plan led by Dhiren Barot to attack a number of targets in the U.S. and the United Kingdom which is believed to have been approved by al-Qaeda. The evidence against the plotters consisted of home videos, written notes, and files on computers. At the time of the arrests the group had no funding, vehicles, or access to bomb-making equipment.


2004 financial buildings plot
All eight suspects pleaded guilty in a British court, Barot was sentenced to 40 years in jail. The trials of seven co-defendants began in April 2007 and in June 2007 these seven were sentenced to a total of 136 years in prison.


2004 financial buildings plot, Plot and evidence
The plots which were uncovered were in the form of proposals found on a laptop seized in Pakistan, notebooks and videos found in the possession of the suspects after their arrests, and in deleted files on a hard disk. Although Barot had been under surveillance since 15 June 2004, a counter-terrorism source admitted that there was little or no admissible evidence against him at the time of his arrest on 3 August 2004.


2004 financial buildings plot, Plot and evidence, Plan to blow up financial buildings in the U.S.
The plan was formulated by Barot while he was in New York posing as a student in 2000 and 2001 prior to the 11 September attacks, of which he apparently had no foreknowledge. Barot's targets were the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington, D.C.; the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup buildings in New York City; and the Prudential headquarters in Newark, New Jersey.


2004 financial buildings plot, Plot and evidence, Plan to blow up financial buildings in the U.S.
He wrote a series of detailed reports describing the importance of the targets, the outlines of the buildings, and the logistics of mounting an explosive attack. He also visited and filmed them from the street in a series of short clips that were discovered in the middle of a copy of the movie Die Hard. The images of this evidence have been posted on the web.


2004 financial buildings plot, Plot and evidence, Plan to blow up financial buildings in the U.S.
The plans appeared to have been shelved after the successful al-Qaeda attacks on those cities on 11 September.


2004 financial buildings plot, Plot and evidence, Plan to blow up financial buildings in the U.S.
There is strong skepticism in several quarters regarding whether any of these plots could have gone ahead without arousing suspicion, or were even superficially viable. For instance, no terrorist bombmakers have succeeded in using commercial gas cylinders to collapse a building.


2004 financial buildings plot, Plot and evidence, "Gas limos" project
The most detailed plan was to pack three stretch limousines with commercially available gas canisters and park them in an underground carpark (where a truck bomb wouldn't have fit) for the purpose of inflicting "mass damage and chaos".


2004 financial buildings plot, Plot and evidence, "Gas limos" project
No targets were given, but there were indications that hotels and mainline train stations were being considered.


2004 financial buildings plot, Plot and evidence, "Dirty bomb using smoke detectors" project
Barot's proposals for his dirty bomb project were inspired by a road accident in France involving a truck carrying 900 smoke detectors, which caused concern over possible exposure to the radio-active material contained in them. Barot formulated a plan involving 10,000 smoke detectors either set on fire or placed on top of an explosive device, and worked out a budget requiring £50,000 for material (£5 for each smoke detector) and £20,000 for storage. Calculations suggest that this would have the volume of four telephone boxes and contain only trace quantities of radioactivity.


2004 financial buildings plot, Plot and evidence, "Dirty bomb using smoke detectors" project
According to expert evidence supplied by the prosecution during his trial, it could have contaminated as many as 500 people but was unlikely to have caused any deaths.


2004 financial buildings plot, Arrests
A group of fourteen men, called the "Luton cell", were arrested in the UK in the Luton area on 3 August 2004. Barot was arrested while having his hair cut in a barber shop in north London. It is believed that the timing of the arrests was driven by the leaking of the identity of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, an alleged Al Qaeda double agent and computer expert, to The New York Times the previous day.


2004 financial buildings plot, Trial
On 17 August 2004, two weeks after the arrests, eight men: Barot, Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, Abdul Aziz Jalil, Omar Abdul Rehman, Junade Feroze, Zia-ul-Haq, Qaisar Shaffi, and Nadeem Tarmohammed, were charged variously with conspiracy to murder; conspiracy to commit a public nuisance by the use of radioactive materials, toxic gases, chemicals and or explosives; and possessing a document or record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.


2004 financial buildings plot, Trial
Barot was seen as the leader of the group, identified as the individual called "Britani" who "Osama bin Laden had sent to the United States 'to case potential economic and Jewish targets in New York City' for possible attack." Five of the men were released without charge. Matthew Monks was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon, thought to be a Brocock air pistol, and released on bail.


2004 financial buildings plot, Trial
The group had no funding, vehicles or bomb-making equipment, however the incriminating documents included reconnaissance plans of the buildings in the U.S., two notebooks containing information on explosives, poisons, chemicals and related matters, and an extract of the Terrorist's Handbook, all classed as "information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism" under the Terrorism Act 2000.


2004 financial buildings plot, Trial, Sentencing
On 12 October 2006, Barot pleaded guilty in a UK court to "conspiring to murder people in terrorist campaigns in Britain and the US",and on 7 November 2006, he was sentenced to life in prison and told he must serve at least 40 years. The sentence was reduced to 30 years in 2007 on appeal. In 2006, he was reported as being locked-down for 19 hours a day in Belmarsh Prison


2004 financial buildings plot, Trial, Sentencing
On 15 June 2007, Jalil, from Luton, was jailed for 26 years, Feroze, from Blackburn, for 22 years. Bhatti, from Harrow and Tarmohamed from Willesden, both in north-west London, were sentenced to 20 years each. Ul Haq, from Paddington, west London, was given 18 years, while Rehman, from Bushey Hertfordshire, and Shaffi, from Willesden, were given 15 years each.


2004 financial buildings plot, US charges
On 12 April 2005, the U.S. authorities brought charges against three of the men, Dhiren Barot (also known as Esa al-Hindi), Nadeem Tarmohamed, and Qaisar Shaffi. The indictment accused Barot of being at a jihad training camp in Afghanistan in 1998 and of doing surveillance of targets in the U.S. between 2000 and 2001 while posing as a student. It accused all three men of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction to damage and destroy buildings used in interstate and foreign commerce.


2004 financial buildings plot, US charges
When pressed by reporters on the lack of any allegations of a connection to al Qaeda in the indictment in spite of earlier reports that tied Barot directly to the 11 September 2001 attacks, Deputy Attorney General James Comey said, "I didn't say there is no connection to al Qaeda. I said we have not alleged a connection to al Qaeda in this indictment."


2004 in Afghanistan
The following lists events that happened during 2004 in Afghanistan.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Thursday, January 1 – Close to half of the loya jirga boycotted a vote on five disputed articles concerning the Proposed Afghan Constitution, promoting Chairman Subghatullah Mujadidi to call for a two-day adjournment to for negotiations. Advisors from the United Nations (UN) and the United States were present to help mediate between the two sides. The primary controversy concerned whether to have a strong president or a strong parliament.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Friday, January 2 – In Kabul, Afghan leaders met privately with U.S. and UN officials, including UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, to try to end the impasse over the Proposed Afghan Constitution.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Saturday, January 3 – A rocket exploded in Kabul. There were no casualties.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Sunday, January 4 – The loya jirga adopted the proposed Afghan Constitution by way of consensus.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Monday, January 5 – North of Qalat, Zabul Province, men kidnapped an Afghan aid worker who was part of a caravan for Shelter For Life. Two local people were shot and injured when they tried to stop the militants. Taliban spokesman Mullah Abdul Hakim Latifi claimed responsibility.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Tuesday, January 6 – In Kandahar, at least sixteen people were killed (six of which were children) and 58 people were wounded when a time bomb hidden in an apple cart exploded 100 yards (91 m) away from an Afghan military base. The crowd had gathered to investigate another bomb that had gone off 15 minutes earlier and injured a small child. A suspect was caught trying to hide in a nearby home. The blasts occurred moments before a motorcade was about to pass.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Thursday, January 8 – In Kandahar, two Afghan National Army soldiers were wounded (one losing a leg) by a bomb that exploded on the roof of a building less than an eighth of a mile from the January 6 incident that killed over a dozen people.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Friday, January 9 – A rocket hit an army camp in Wana (Pakistan), South Waziristan, Pakistan, killing four Pakistani soldiers.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Saturday, January 10 – Interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai announced that he would be a candidate for the election to be held in June.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Sunday, January 11 – Five Afghan National Army soldiers died and three others were injured when they came under attack in Kandahar Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Monday, January 12 – The Afghan National Field Hockey Team arrived in Peshawar, Pakistan to play six matches over ten days.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Tuesday, January 13 – Afghanistan released 100 Pakistani prisoners to reciprocate a similar gesture by Pakistan only days earlier. The prisoners had been suspected of fighting for the Taliban.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Wednesday, January 14 – About a dozen rockets were fired at the U.S. base near the Khost airport in Afghanistan. There were no casualties.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Thursday, January 15 – Outgoing U.N. envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, told the United Nations Security Council that elections scheduled for June were unrealistic because factions and extremists continued to threaten the peace process. Brahimi also criticized the Bonn Agreements on the grounds that the Taliban had not been present there. He also criticized western feminists protesting the burqa. He said women would go further in Afghanistan through education, not changes in dress.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Friday, January 16 – At the request of the United Nations, Chinese police officer Zhang Ming was sent to Afghanistan to help fight drug trafficking.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Saturday, January 17 – Forty rebels ambushed an Afghan convoy in Kandahar Province, provoking a gun fight that left three rebels and two Afghan National Army soldiers dead.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Monday, January 19 – In a raid on a compound in Kabul, Canadian soldiers arrested 16 men and seized drugs, cash and weapons.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Tuesday, January 20-  Pakistan announced there no longer any bans on goods exported to Afghanistan, with the exception of ghee and cooking oil.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Thursday, January 22 – 100 Canadian soldiers arrived in Kabul to start a six-month tour of duty.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Friday, January 23 – Iran announced that it would place a dozen jailed al-Qaeda suspects on trial.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Saturday, January 24 – In Nangarhar Province, at least four children were wounded by a landmine.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Sunday, January 25 – Responding to rocket attacks on its air base in the region, U.S. planes bombed several areas in the Narang district, Kunar Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Monday, January 26 – With assistance from UNICEF and the World Health Organization, the Afghan Ministry of Health began a three-day vaccination program intended to reach about five million children aged five and under in Afghanistan.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Tuesday, January 27 – A Canadian soldier, Jamie Brendan Murphy, and one Afghan civilian were killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul. Three others soldiers and nine bystanders were injured.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Wednesday, January 28 – A British soldier was killed and another four were wounded by a car bomb in Kabul. Mullah Hakim Latifi of the Taliban claimed responsibility.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Thursday, January 29 – Eight U.S. soldiers were killed and at least three were wounded when an explosion occurred at a weapons storage area near Ghazni. The explosion may have been caused by a booby-trap.


2004 in Afghanistan, January
Saturday, January 31 – In Deh Rawood, a remote-controlled bomb destroyed a vehicle, killing Mayor Khalif Sadaht and seven of his relatives.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Sunday, February 1 – Afghan families began celebrating Eid al-Adha. In Kabul, former king Mohammad Zaher Shah and interim president Hamid Karzai joined for prayers at the downtown palace.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Monday, February 2 – U.S. president George W. Bush submitted a 2005 budget proposal to the U.S. Congress which contained US$1.2 billion in assistance for Afghanistan focusing on education, health, infrastructure and assistance to the Afghan National Army. The budget did not contain funding estimates for U.S. military operations.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Tuesday, February 3 – Interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai appointed Mohammad Yusuf as governor of Farah Province, and Azizullah Afzali as governor of Baghdis province. Karzai also named new police chiefs in five northern and central provinces. Gul Nabi Ahmadzai was appointed chief of training for the Afghan National Army.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Wednesday, February 4 – Interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai fired Mohammad Aref Sarwari, the head of national security.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Thursday, February 5 – Police arrested the owner of a taxi used in a suicide bombing that killed a British soldier in Kabul on January 28.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Friday, February 6 – The Indian company Mahindra Defence Systems announced that it would provide 80 SUVs and 40 jeeps to the Afghan National Army over the next six months.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Saturday, February 7 – The Afghan Disarmament, Demobilisation and Re-Integration Program, headed by Milos Krsmanovic, launched a disarmament program in northern Afghanistan aimed at disarming some 2,000 militiamen under the command of generals Abdul Rashid Dostam and Atta Muhammad.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Sunday, February 8 – Over 200 Afghan delegates gathered in Kabul for the International Conference on Counter-Narcotics in Afghanistan to discuss law enforcement and alternative livelihoods for poppy farmers and demand reduction. Keynote speakers included executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Antonio Maria Costa, interim president Hamid Karzai and the United Kingdom's foreign office minister Bill Rammell.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Monday, February 9 – Under tight security, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visited Kabul and met with Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Tuesday, February 10 – In Afghanistan, the Kabul Primary Court sentenced to death two former Taliban officials, Zia Ahmad and Abdul Nab, for the murder of aid-worker Bettina Goislard November 16, 2003. The trial took three hours and the judgment took twenty minutes. No witnesses to the crime were present at the trial. The men planned to appeal the decision.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Wednesday, February 11 – In Khost, Major Mohammed Isa Khan, the deputy intelligence director of Khost Province, was assassinated in his car by gunman Hafez Elal. Elal tried to escape but was chased down by bodyguards. To avoid capture, he detonated explosives strapped to his body. Taliban spokesman Mohammed Saiful Adel claimed responsibility.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Thursday, February 12 – Addressing the National Defence College in Islamabad, Pakistan, president Pervez Musharraf admitted that some anti-government activity in Afghanistan was coming from within the Pakistan border.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Friday, February 13 – One civilian and old soldier were killed and six people were wounded in an explosion at an Afghan National Army military post near Khost.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Saturday, February 14 – Near Bala Buluk in Farah Province, four Afghans working for the United Nations de-mining agency were fatally shot in an ambush.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Sunday, February 15 – A Canadian soldier was shot in the face when his rifle went off in his sleeping quarters at Camp Julien in Kabul. He survived and was placed in critical condition.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Monday, February 16 – After being open for one day, a driving school in Herat was shut down by local authorities.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Tuesday, February 17 – In Kandahar Province, men loyal to two senior government officials exchanged gunfire in a bazaar wounding four people.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Wednesday, February 18 – Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah warned Afghans not to vote in the election scheduled for June.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Thursday, February 19 – former Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah was released from a hospital in New Delhi, India after two weeks of receiving medical treatment for an intestinal problem. He remained in New Delhi, however, for further observation.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Sunday, February 22 – Before takeoff, a Louis Berger Group helicopter was attacked by gunfire in Thaloqan village in Kandahar Province, killing the Australian pilot and seriously injuring a U.S. woman. Taliban spokesmen took responsibility.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Monday, February 23 – In Thaloqan village in Kandahar Province, U.S. forces from the 10th Mountain Division assisted hundreds of local police in a search for the gunman who killed an Australian pilot the previous day. Thirty suspected Taliban members were rounded up.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Wednesday, February 25 –  Five Afghan employees of Serai Development Foundation were killed and two injured in an ambush northeast of Kabul.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Thursday, February 26 – United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke in front of a graduating class of 48 Afghan policemen in Kandahar.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Friday, February 27 – Two hundred five South Korean medics and military engineers left Seoul  for Afghanistan to replace existing troops, and to help with reconstruction projects for six months.


2004 in Afghanistan, February
Saturday, February 28 – The United States and Pakistan denied an Iranian radio report that Osama bin Laden had been captured "a long time ago" in Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Monday, March 1 – During public ceremonies in Kabul, of Shia Muslims commemorating the slaying of their leader Imam al-Husayn, an Afghan National Army cadet shouted abusive language and spat at a banner, prompting the Shia Muslims to throw stones at the soldiers. The cadets then fired into the crowd, killing one and injuring sixteen.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Tuesday, March 2 – A voluntary repatriation program for Afghan refugees run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees resumed after a four-month hiatus following the murder of a staff member in November.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Wednesday, March 3 – At a ceremony held in the Chinese embassy in Kabul, Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan Sun Yuxi and Afghan Irrigation, Water Resources and Environment Minister Mohammad Yusuf Nooristani signed a contract detailing China's assistance in a major irrigation re-build project near the capital. The project was supposed to be finished in early 2006.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Thursday, March 4 – Rebels attacked a border post in Maruf district in Kandahar Province, killing seven members of the Afghan National Army.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Friday, March 5 – U.S.-led forces killed nine rebels in a gun battle in near Orgun, near the border with Pakistan.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Saturday, March 6 – Near Qalat, Zabul Province, Mohammad Isah, a director of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, was murdered by men who stopped his car.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Sunday, March 7 – Afghan government officials announced that Afghan Planning Minister Haji Muhammad Mohaqiq resigned from the cabinet. Mohaqiq said he was fired after announcing his intention to run against interim president Hamid Karzai in the June 2004 elections. Mohaqiq was replaced by Ramazan Bashardoost.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Monday, March 8 – Human Rights Watch published Enduring Freedom - Abuses by US Forces in Afghanistan, which criticizes the United States' actions in Afghanistan. The report cites excessive force, arbitrary detentions and the mistreating people in custody as prominent abuses.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Tuesday, March 9 – In Ankara, Turkey, Afghan Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Mohammad Fahim Khan met with Turkish National Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Wednesday, March 10 – Three rockets were fired at the U.S. base at the airport near Kandahar. There were no casualties.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Friday, March 12 – Dodsal, a Dubai-based construction company, signed a US$230 million contract to set up a modern petroleum infrastructure in Afghanistan. The deal entails the construction of 700 retail outlets.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Saturday, March 13 – In Kandahar Province, rebels attacked a government office. In the battle, three rebels and one Afghan National Army soldier were killed.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Sunday, March 14 – Three rockets landed in Jalalabad. There were no injuries, but windows shattered and some walls crumbled.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Monday, March 15 – The United States initiated Operation Mountain Storm, which intended to drive from inside Afghanistan into a region of rebel sanctuaries and meet the Pakistani military driving from the opposite direction.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Tuesday, March 16 – In an iris verification center in Quetta, Pakistan, 174 Afghan refugees were processed. Each refugee older than six years underwent a computerized iris scan to determine if they had previously been checked and received a repatriation package. The refugees then entered Afghanistan through the Chaman border.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Wednesday, March 17 – In Kabul, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Afghan interim President Hamid Karzai to discuss security and preparations for the June elections.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Thursday, March 18 – Pakistani forces re-engaged an operation against suspected Al-Qaeda rebels in the villages of Azam Warsak, Shin Warsak and Kaloosha in the mountainous region of South Waziristan, close to the border of Afghanistan. Each side utilized heavy weaponry. 24 rebels and 16 Afghan troops were killed there during a sweep March 15. The U.S. deployed 13,500 soldiers on the Afghan side.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Friday, March 19 – A U.S. airstrike on a village in the Charcheno district of Afghanistan killed six civilians and injured seven.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Saturday, March 20 – Taliban forces threatened to kill a Turkish highway engineer kidnapped three weeks earlier, demanding that Afghan authorities release two Taliban militia members who were sentenced to death for the November 16 murder of Bettina Goislard.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Sunday, March 21 – Afghan Civil Aviation Minister Mirwais Sadiq (son of governor Ismail Khan) was killed by a rocket propelled grenade during a gun battle in Herat. Two police officers also died in the attack. Herat military commander Zaher Naib Zada claimed responsibility for the assassination. Zada had earlier been fired by Sadiq's father. Factional fighting between supporters of Zahir Nayebzada and of Ismail Khan involving tanks and guns ensued in the region, leaving more than 100 people dead. Days later, president Hamid Karzai would say Sadiq's death was caused by a "small accident."


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Monday, March 22 – Afghan defense minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali arrived in Herat to assess tensions.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Tuesday, March 23 – In Herat, a public burial took place for Mirwais Sadiq. The body was taken by tank to its resting place on a hill overlooking the city. Thousands were in attendance.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Friday, March 26 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1536 which extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan for another full year.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Saturday, March 27 – In Afghanistan, three hand grenades were thrown at homes of Afghan National Army soldiers. No one was injured.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Sunday, March 28 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai announced that the national elections scheduled for June would be delayed until September to give the U.N. more time to prepare.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Monday, March 29 – In Kandahar, militia corps commander Khan Mohammed oversaw hundreds of his fighters giving up their assault rifles, machine guns, and rockets to the Afghan National Army.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Tuesday, March 30 – In a raid in southern Afghanistan, U.S. troops detained six suspected Taliban members.


2004 in Afghanistan, March
Wednesday, March 31 – In Berlin, Germany, a two-day international conference on reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan began. The conference was attended by 65 countries. Alastair McKechnie, the World Bank country director for Afghanistan, hoped to accumulate during the conference donations of US$27.5 billion (to be granted over seven years). Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai and United States Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that the United States had, on top of the US$1.2 billion already promised, pledged an additional US$1 billion in aid for 2004. Japan promised US$525 million more over the next two years. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder pledged (in addition to US$391 million promised at a conference in Tokyo in 2002) US$391 million over the next four years.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Thursday, April 1 – Up to fifty New Zealand Special Air Service troops flew to Afghanistan for "long-range reconnaissance and direct action missions".


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Monday, April 5 – In Badakhshan Province, anti-narcotics police destroyed four heroin laboratories and seized 10 tons of opium poppy. There were several arrests.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Wednesday, April 7 – A three-hour gun battle occurred during a joint Afghan–U.S. operation near Gereshk in Helmand Province, killing one rebel and one Afghan soldier, while wounding one U.S. soldier and one Afghan soldier.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Thursday, April 8 – Troops under the command of Abdul Rashid Dostum overran Maymana, the capital of Faryab Province. Some reports claim Dostum forces fired into a crowd, killing four. Gov. Enayatullah Enayat was rushed to an airport and evacuated. Afghan National Army troops were flown from Kabul to Faryab province.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Saturday, April 10 – In Kod-i-Barq, Balkh Province, an armed encounter took place between forces loyal to Abdul Rashid Dostum and a local Tajik leader Atta Mohammad. The incident took place in the Mazar fertilizer factory residential area and resulted in a few injuries.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Monday, April 12 – In Verona, Italy, nine members of the Afghanistan national football team disappeared during the team's tour of Europe. Italian border police were alerted. They later surfaced in Germany and the Netherlands to claim asylum.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Tuesday, April 13 – Afghan national security officers, local police and more than 100 Canadian soldiers raided a compound in the Charar Asiab district outside Kabul, arresting six suspects of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Wednesday, April 14 – Taliban members ambushed and shot dead the deputy chief of Mezana District and several of his colleagues in Zabul Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Thursday, April 15 – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers began a four-day visit to Afghanistan. He was supposed to visit the Zahre Dasht camp for internally displaced persons (near Kandahar); however, his security could not be insured, and the visit was canceled.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Friday, April 16 – The government of Nangarhar Province banned women from performing or reporting news on television and radio.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Saturday, April 17 – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers visited with interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai and other senior Afghan officials in Kabul. Lubbers also visited Istalif and the Bagaram district.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Sunday, April 18 – The Economic Cooperation Organization opened a two-day conference in Kabul bringing together representatives from ten regional countries. The agenda included ways to improve development and promote trade, and investment opportunities.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Monday, April 19 – In a raid on a compound in central Kabul, local police and ISAF forces arrested eight militants with suspected links to Hezb-i-Islami and al-Qaeda.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Tuesday, April 20 – At the opening in Kabul of a three-day gathering of representatives of international donor countries, interim president Hamid Karzai announced a reduction in the size of his 30-person cabinet and a clarification of the responsibilities of each ministry. However, the plan needed the approved of the current cabinet before taking effect.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Wednesday, April 21 – In Kabul, local police and ISAF soldiers arrested four suspects, three near Kabul Stadium and one in front of the Finance Ministry. Three detonators were found in the vest of the last suspect. Over a dozen other suspects were taken into custody in a raid on a home.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Thursday, April 22 – In the Ghazi Abad District of Kunar Province, a bomb exploded on a truck carrying fuel for a U.S. military base, wounding three Afghan men.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Friday, April 23 – In a Panjwai District village of Kandahar Province, a group of 50 armed men attacked aid workers of the Central Asia Development Group, setting fire to eight vehicles. No casualties were reported.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Saturday, April 24 – Near the village of Dailanor, in Kandahar Province, rebels ambushed a U.S. military convoy on a road, detonating an explosion that wounded three U.S. Marines, one seriously. The Marines were part of a contingent of 2,000 Marines who arrived in Afghanistan in recent weeks.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Sunday, April 25 – Interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai visited Kandahar for the first time since there was an attempt on his life there on September 5, 2002. A man with a grenade near the travel route was apprehended by local police.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Monday, April 26 – Top diplomats of NATO's North Atlantic Council visited Kabul for the first time since it took over command of ISAF.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Wednesday, April 28 – North of Kabul, local police arrested 16 men suspected of plotting to smuggle weapons into the capital.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Thursday, April 29 – Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Jalali announced that Kabul police rescued that week more than 17 children from child kidnappers.


2004 in Afghanistan, April
Friday, April 30 – At least five Afghan National Army soldiers were killed in an attack by rebels in Panjwai District, Kandahar Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Sunday, May 2 – About 60 U.S. troops in Afghanistan strayed into Pakistan and searched the village of Alwara Mandi in a night time operation. The incursion was accidental and lasted only 25 minutes.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Monday, May 3 – Ten Afghan National Army soldiers were found dead in southern Afghanistan after being abducted in two rebel raids. Five soldiers were found dead on a mountainside in Niamashien district of Kandahar Province; five soldiers were found dead in the Sur Ghogan area.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Wednesday, May 5 – The U.S. sent 2,000 Marines from the 22nd MEU (SOC) to the area around Tirin Kot, 250 miles southwest of Kabul.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Friday, May 7 – Six Afghan National Army soldiers were wounded and two were killed in an attack by Taliban forces on a district building in Shah Wali Kot, just north of Kandahar.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Saturday, May 8 – Four Afghan election staff workers survived the explosion of their Jeep near Grabawa, Nangarhar Province. Their driver was slightly injured.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Sunday, May 9 – Two foreigners (about 30 years old and wearing Afghan clothes) were found dead in a park in west Kabul. One had been beaten with bricks or stones; the other had been strangled. One of the foreigners was carrying a Swiss passport.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Monday, May 10 – Interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai visited Herat to negotiated with Ismail Khan regarding disarmament. Karzai traveled via a U.S. C-130 military transport plane and was guarded by U.S. bodyguards.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Tuesday, May 11 – In Kabul, an ISAF peacekeeper was slightly injured by a rocket fired into the ISAF main base.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Wednesday, May 12 – In Kabul, a 17-year-old Afghan man was killed and another injured when their motorcycle with three people aboard struck a trailer towed by a Canadian army truck. The motorcycle attempted to pass a convoy of Canadian military vehicles headed for the airport.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Saturday, May 15 – Near Girishk in Helmand Province, rebels attacked a U.S.-led coalition combat patrol, killing one U.S. soldier (Chief Warrant Officer Bruce E. Price) and wounding two others. Two men were detained; they were allegedly brothers of Mullah Abdul Ghafoor.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Monday, May 17 – In Islamabad, Pakistan, finance ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the deputy secretary of the United States Department of Treasury John B. Taylor met to review economic developments in the region.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Tuesday, May 18 – In Doha, Qatar, an international two-day forum opened to discuss financial, technical and personnel-related aid to Afghan police. Representatives of governmental organizations from over 20 countries were in attendance.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Wednesday, May 19 – Between Shindand and Farah, rebels ambushed a police car, and killed two officers returning home from escorting U.N. staff members.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Thursday, May 20 – A remote-controlled bomb destroyed a vehicle carrying election workers through the Jaji Maydan District of Khost Province, Afghanistan, injuring at least four people.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Friday, May 21 – In Tani village, Khost Province, Afghanistan, three civilians were killed and two wounded in a pre-dawn attack by U.S. helicopter gunships. U.S. forces claimed they had been fired on; villagers at the scene said no U.S. patrol had been fired on.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Saturday, May 22 – The U.S. military named Brig. Gen. Charles Jacoby, deputy operational commander at the Bagram Air Base, to carry out a review of U.S. secretive Afghan. Jacoby was to carry out a top-to-bottom review and deliver a report by mid-June.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Sunday, May 23 – In Kabul, a rocket-propelled grenade killed a Norwegian ISAF peacekeeper and injured another as a four-vehicle convoy was driving back from patrol.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Tuesday, May 25 – Pakistani and U.S. military officials met to discuss mechanism to stop recent military incursions from Afghanistan by U.S. forces hunting suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives in the border region.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Wednesday, May 26 – Interim Afghan president Hamid Karzai enacted an election law that requires both presidential and parliamentary elections to be held through free, general, secret and direct voting. To win the race, a presidential candidate needs at least 50 percent of the vote. A presidential candidate is required to gather 10,000 voters backing the bid.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Friday, May 28 – A remote-controlled explosive wounded five Afghan soldiers on a road in the Sozyan area of Uruzgan Province. Three suspects were later detained.


2004 in Afghanistan, May
Saturday, May 29 – Four U.S.Special Operations Soldiers were killed when their Humvee hit a landmine in the Sorie district of Zabul Province. Three U.S. soldiers were wounded in the blast.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Tuesday, June 1 – Haji Ajab Shah, the chief of police Jalalabad, was killed and three of his staff injured after a bomb exploded underneath his chair.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Wednesday, June 2 – Afghans Fasil Ahmad and Besmillah, Belgian Helene de Beir, Norwegian Egil Tynaes, and Dutchman Willem Kwint, all workers for Doctors Without Borders killed in an ambush near Khair Khana in Badghis Province. They were the first ever fatalities for the group. Mullah Abdul Hakim Latifi, a spokesman for the Taliban, took responsibility for the attack.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Thursday, June 3 – Doctors Without Borders suspended its work in Afghanistan.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Friday, June 4 – North of Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, militants exchanged fire with U.S.-led forces. There were no reports of injuries, but five militants were detained.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Saturday, June 5 – In Paktia Province, a convoy of Afghan and foreign staff preparing for the elections was ambushed. There were no injuries.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Sunday, June 6 – U.S. warplanes pounded dozens of insurgents hiding in caves near Tirin Kot.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Monday, June 7 – A U.S. soldier was killed and two others wounded after their vehicle hit a landmine in southeastern Afghanistan. They were taken to Kandahar airfield hospital where the one soldier died.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Tuesday, June 8 – U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces completed a week-long operation in the Daychopan District of Zabul Province. Through the course of the operation, 73 rebel fighters were killed and 13 captured. Six Afghan government forces and four coalition soldiers were wounded, and none killed.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Wednesday, June 9 – Eleven Chinese aid workers from Jiangxi province were killed in their compound by a score of armed men in Kunduz, and another six were wounded. Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi stated the Taliban were not involved.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Thursday, June 10 – In Kunduz Province, police chief Mutaleb Beg announced that two suspects were detained in connection with the previous day's massacre of Chinese aid workers.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Friday, June 11 – In southeast Afghanistan, eleven rockets were fired at a U.N. convoy carrying government officials.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Saturday, June 12 – In Shorabak, Kandahar Province, sixty rebels clashed with fifty Afghan National Army troops for over three hours. The rebels seized the outpost building and set it on fire.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Sunday, June 13 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and on CNN's Late Edition.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Monday, June 14 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai held a press conferences with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld beside a 9–11 memorial plaque on a section of The Pentagon's western wall.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Tuesday, June 15 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai addressed the U.S. Congress in the House Chamber. Karzai also met with U.S. President George W. Bush.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Wednesday, June 16 – In Kunduz Province, a NATO convey was bombed, killing a driver and three bystanders.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Thursday, June 17 – Four suspects linked to the previous day's NATO convoy bombing were detained in Kunduz Province by Afghan officials.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Friday, June 18 – In central Afghanistan, an Afghan interpreter was killed by militant gunfire, while two U.S. soldiers and two New Zealand soldiers were wounded.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Sunday, June 20 – Three rocket-propelled grenades were fired at an electoral office near Kabul.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Monday, June 21 – In the Surkh Sang area of Arghandab District of Zabul Province, rebels kidnapped and beheaded an Afghan interpreter, prompting U.S.-led coalition forces and Afghan National Army soldiers to clash with the rebels, killing four of them. Naimatullah Khan, corps commander of southeastern Zabul province, initially stated that the Afghan soldiers avenged the interpreter's murder by beheaded the four rebels, but later retracted the statement. Three rebels were arrested.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Tuesday, June 22 – Seven rocket-propelled grenades were fired at a U.S. military base in Khost, slightly wounding two soldiers and three Afghan interpreters.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Wednesday, June 23 – Near Spin Boldak, five members of the Afghan National Army were killed and two others were seriously wounded when their vehicle hit a landmine.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Thursday, June 24 – In Kunar Province, two U.S. Marines were killed and another was wounded.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Friday, June 25 – In Uruzgan Province rebels kidnapped sixteen passengers of a bus and then killed them.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Saturday, June 26 – In Afghanistan, a bomb planted in a minibus carrying workers to voter registration sites from Jalalabad to the Shinwar District exploded, killing two Afghan U.N. election workers, and injuring three. Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi claimed responsibility. The driver left the vehicle just before the explosion. He was caught by police shortly thereafter.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Tuesday, June 29 – Afghan National Army troops in Char Cheno District, Uruzgan Province, killed three rebel fighters.


2004 in Afghanistan, June
Wednesday, June 30 – Bombs hidden in fruit carts exploded at two separate security checkpoints in Jalalabad, killing four and injuring 23.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Thursday, July 1 – Carmela Baranowska, an Australian journalist reported missing in Helmand Province, called her employer to say she was not being held hostage. She had not been seen nor heard from since June 28. At the time she was filming her documentary Taliban Country.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Saturday, July 3 – Police in Mazari Sharif made a large drug seizure and then accused regional military commander Mohammad Atta of being involved in the illegal trade.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Sunday, July 4, 2004 – In a ceremony in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai accepted the Philadelphia Liberty Medal.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Monday, July 5 – In the Karteh Parwan district of Kabul, local security forces arrested three Americans, including Jonathan Idema, and four Afghans after police raided an illegal jail.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Tuesday, July 6 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai and members of a U.N.-sponsored electoral commission met in Kabul, but failed to finalize on a date for the national and parliamentary elections.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Thursday, July 8 – In Khogyani District, Nangarhar Province, a landmine blast killed a female election worker and wounded at least two other people.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Friday, July 9 – The Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body announced that Afghanistan's presidential elections would take place on October 9, 2004, and parliamentary would take place elections in the Spring of 2005.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Sunday, July 11 – A bomb exploded in Herat, killing six and injuring 34.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Wednesday, July 14 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai signed a decree to get full cooperation from militia commanders with the Afghan Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Program (DDR). The decree stated that those who participate in activities against the DDR process will be considered disloyal and rebellious and will face severe punishment.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Thursday, July 15 – The United Nations removed its 17-person staff via helicopter from Ghor Province after its election office there was attacked by protesters. The mob had been protesting a checkpoint conflict that took place in Chaghcharan in which government troops killed two local militiamen.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Friday, July 16 – In the Spin Aghbarqa area in Zabul Province, rebels attacked a convoy of U.S. and Afghan National Armysoldiers on patrol along the Kandahar-Kabul highway, triggering a shootout that killed an Afghan Army soldier and an insurgent.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Saturday, July 17 – U.S. troops captured Taliban leader Ghulam Mohammed Hotak in Wardak Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Sunday, July 18 – An estimate 700 people spent nine hours demonstrating in front of government offices in Maydan Shahr, chanting for the release of Taliban leader Ghulam Mohammed Hotak.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Monday, July 19 – In a village in Nawbahar District, Zabul Province, five suspected Taliban were caught by U.S. and Afghan National Army soldiers.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Tuesday, July 20 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai promoted three powerful warlords: General Atta Mohammad was made governor of Balkh province; General Khan Mohammad was made police chief of Kandahar Province; General Hazrat Ali was made police chief of Nangarhar Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Wednesday, July 21 – Eleven Afghan security personnel were killed in an ambush on their vehicle in Helmand Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Thursday, July 22 – Rebels killed a local security chief and 10 of his followers in an ambush in Helmand Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Friday, July 23 – In Kandahar, a remote-controlled bomb exploded a U.S. military convoy passed, wounding between one and four soldier.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Monday, July 26 – A bomb exploded near a U.S. military vehicle 35 miles east of Qalat, Zabul Province, injuring three American soldiers traveling in an armored Humvee.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Tuesday, July 27 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai formally declared his candidacy for the October 9 presidential elections. He dropped from his ticket Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim and replaced him with Ahmad Zia Massood. Karzai named Karim Khalili his choice for second vice president.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Wednesday, July 28 – At a mosque being used as a voter registration site in Ghazni Province, a bomb killed six, including two United Nations staff workers.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Thursday, July 29 – In Brussels, the European Commission approved an extra €9 million to help fund the October 7 presidential elections in Afghanistan.


2004 in Afghanistan, July
Saturday, July 31 – The United States government warned its citizens that the security situation in Afghanistan remained critical and that there was a general threat to all Americans visiting the nation.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Sunday, August 1 – A three-day battle began between Afghan National Army and U.S. troops and militants near Zhawara, Khost Province. Coalition ground forces were assisted by U.S. B-1 Lancer, A-10 Thunderbolt II and helicopter gunships. Between 10 and 70 rebels were killed; at least one Afghan soldier was killed.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Wednesday, August 4 – Two Afghans, a field officer and his driver, working for Malteser Germany, a Catholic relief agency, were killed by gunmen in Zormat. As a result of the attack, Malteser suspended its operations in Afghanistan.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Thursday, August 5 – As part of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, with hands bound and feet chained to a metal ring in the floor, an Afghan detainee pleaded for his freedom before the first U.S. military review tribunal partially opened to observers.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Friday, August 6 – A convoy of ten U.S. vehicles east of Daychopan, Zabul Province, was ambushed by about ten rebels who fired rocket propelled grenades. One Humvee was struck, injuring five soldiers.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Saturday, August 7 – Two U.S. soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were killed when their Humvee struck a landmine positioned along their route in Ghazni Province. A third soldier was wounded.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Tuesday, August 10 – Afghan election officials released the list of approved presidential candidates for the October 7 election; the list of seventeen included Hamid Karzai, Yunus Qanooni, Mohammed Fahim and Abdullah Abdullah.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Wednesday, August 11 – Mullah Janan, a Taliban military commander, was killed while leading an ambush on a U.S.-Afghan military convoy in Laghman Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Thursday, August 12 – A U.S. UH-60 Black Hawk crashed in Khost Province, killing at least one soldier and injuring fourteen. Four personnel were seriously injured and evacuated to the hospital at Bargam Air Base.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Tuesday, August 17 – U.S. warplanes bombed the forces of Amanullah near Herat. Khan's forces were engaged in fighting the militia backing Herat Province governor Ismail Khan. Amanullah agreed to a cease-fire.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Wednesday, August 18 – 18-year-old Friba Razayee became the first woman ever to compete for Afghanistan at the Olympic Games. She competed in judo against Spain's Cecila Blanco.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Thursday, August 19 – A bomb exploded in a U.N.-run voter registration building in Farah. Several security personnel were injured.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Saturday, August 21 – Three people were killed and two others critically wounded when their pickup truck tried to run a checkpoint in Ghazni Province. An infant in the vehicle was unhurt.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Monday, August 23 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai began a two-day visit in Pakistan, meeting first with Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Friday, August 27 – Pashtun warlord Amanullah was brought by Afghan authorities from Herat to Kabul and held under arrest.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Saturday, August 28 – In Zabul Province, U.S. and Afghan National Army soldiers captured 22 Taliban suspects.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Sunday, August 29 – Georgia's 16th mountain battalion, commanded by Captain Shavleg Tabatadze, traveled to Germany for a two-week training before they embark on a 100-day mission in Afghanistan.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Monday, August 30 – NATO troops detained a man on the grounds of Kabul Airport and found traces of explosives on his hands. They then turned him over to local authorities.


2004 in Afghanistan, August
Tuesday, August 31 – In Nangahar Province, security forces arrested two men, Afghan Hesmatullah and Pakistani Shahzada Gul, distributing Taliban leaflets calling for a holy war against U.S.-led coalition forces and the government.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Wednesday, September 1 – The Asian Development Bank pledged US$600 million to Afghanistan over the next three years.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Thursday, September 2 – Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah visited India and met with Natwar Singh and prime minister Manmohan Singh to discuss a US$400 million Indian aid package for Afghanistan.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Friday, September 3 – A jeep packed with explosives detonated at a roadside in the Jaikhoja area of Kandahar, killing one person and seriously injuring two others in a passing taxi.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Tuesday, September 7 – In northern Afghanistan, ten humanitarian workers were injured in an attack by demonstrators.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Thursday, September 9 – In Uruzgan Province, rebels attacked a U.S. patrol vehicle with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and small arms fire, wounding one soldier.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Saturday, September 11 – In Herat, dozens of supporters of Ismail Khan gathered outside his home after he was replaced as provincial governor, and began chanting slogans against the United States and Afghan president Hamid Karzai. Shots were fired by U.S. and Afghan security forces after their convoy was pelted with stones. Two people were killed, four injured and four arrested.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Sunday, September 12 – In Herat, hundreds of demonstrators, protesting the previous day's dismissal of Ismail Khan, ransacked and set fires at United Nations offices. At least seven people died and dozens more wounded. All US Special Forces fled the city. All violence was suppressed by 3rd and later 2d Brigade of the Central Corps (ANA) led by New Hampshire Army National Guard advisors (later reprimanded for their success by the U.S. Army). Follow on forces were able to enlarge the central defensive bubble in the city that disrupted the "riots". Many of these riots were led by external national forces. Later in the day, Khan appeared on television and called for his supporters to exercise restraint. Interim president Hamid Karzai chose Mohammed Khair Khuwa to replace Kahn.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Monday, September 13 – The United Nations withdrew dozens of its staff members from Herat, Afghanistan a day after mobs ransacked its offices.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Tuesday, September 14 – In Herat, Afghanistan, two men in a four-wheel-drive vehicle shot and killed a militiaman loyal to his ousted predecessor, Ismail Khan.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Wednesday, September 15 – In Kabul, an Afghan court sentenced Jonathan Idema and Brent Bennett to 10-year prison terms and Edward Caraballo to an 8-year term for participating in torture, kidnapping and running a private jail. Their four Afghan accomplices were sentenced to between one and five years in prison.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Thursday, September 16 – A rocket fired on but missed a helicopter carrying Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai as it prepared for landing in Gardez, where Karzai planned to open a school. The helicopter returned to Kabul without touching down in Gardez. Police later captured three suspects who confessed to firing the rockets.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Friday, September 17 – Afghan National Army forces searching for three missing elders kidnapped from the Maruf district in Kandahar Province, found two of them dead and the third wounded. All had multiple gunshot wounds. The survivor had injuries to the throat and stomach and was taken to the U.S. military base in Kandahar. The elders had been working to register voters.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Saturday, September 18 – In Helmand Province, four gunmen riding two motorcycles ambushed the car of a militia commander, killing him and wounding two of his guards.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Sunday, September 19 – Afghanistan held an auction of capital notes to allow its banks to determine a market-driven interest rate. The two winning banks were Millie Bank and Pashtany Bank.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Monday, September 20 – Afghan interim vice-president Nehmatullah Shahrani survived an assassination attempt when a remote controlled roadside bomb exploded next to his convoy in Kunduz Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Tuesday, September 21 – In New York, Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai attended the opening of the United Nations General Assembly.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Wednesday, September 22 – About 130 paratroopers the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division left from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to Afghanistan to help provide security for the October elections there.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Friday, September 24 – The Asian Development Bank approved a loan to Afghanistan of US$5 million and a guarantee of US$10 million to provide political risk guarantees to eligible investors and financiers.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Saturday, September 25 – former Camp X-Ray prisoner and Taliban leader Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar was among three rebel fighters killed during a raid in Char Cheno District, Uruzgan Province.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Sunday, September 26 – Iran announced that since March 20, more than 30,000 Afghan refugees had left the city of Isfahan to return to their country.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Tuesday, September 28 – Afghan General Abdul Rashid Dostum held a rally in Shiberghan for his presidential campaign bid and outlined his campaign issues.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Wednesday, September 29 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai inaugurated the Afghan National Museum in Kabul.


2004 in Afghanistan, September
Thursday, September 30 – In Orgun, two Afghan National Army soldiers were killed and seven wounded in a land mine attack on their convoy.


2004 in Afghanistan, October
Friday, October 1 – In Pakistan, hundreds of Afghan refugees, including women, lined up at special voting registration centers near Quetta and Peshawar.


2004 in Afghanistan, October
Saturday, October 2 – Afghan presidential candidate Yunus Qanuni held a rally in Kandahar.


2004 in Afghanistan, October
Sunday, October 3 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai visited Germany, where he met Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and accepted a prize from the private organization Werkstatt Deutschland.


2004 in Afghanistan, October
Tuesday, October 5 – Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai flew to Ghazni to speak to a crowd of about 5,000. While airborne, his helicopter was escorted by a U.S. AH-64 Apache and an A-10 Thunderbolt II.


2004 in Afghanistan, October
Wednesday, October 6 – In Badakhshan Province,  an assassination attempt on vice-presidential candidate Ahmed Zia Massood killed one person and injured five others, including the former provincial governor.


2004 in Afghanistan, October
Thursday, October 7 – In Moscow, Russia, Russia and France signed an agreement on military transits to Afghanistan via Russia. Signing for Russia was Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and for France, Jean Cadet, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia.


2004 in Afghanistan, October
Friday, October 8 – In London, England, the trial began for former Afghan warlord Zardad Khan.


2004 in Afghanistan, October
Saturday, October 9 – In Afghanistan's first-ever direct presidential election, Hamid Karzai was elected President of Afghanistan.


2004 in Afghanistan, October
Monday, October 11 – The Czech Republic voted to donate surplus weaponry (including submachine gun ammunition, hand grenades and signal rockets) to the Afghan National Army.


2004 in Afghanistan, October
Tuesday, October 12 – In Vienna, Austria, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime hosted a meeting of United Nations officials and international policy-makers to address the heroin problem arising from Afghanistan.


2004 in Albania
The following lists events that happened during 2004 in Republic of Albania.


2004 in American soccer
The 2004 season was the 92nd year of competitive soccer in the United States.


2004 in American soccer, National team
The home team or the team that is designated as the home team is listed in the left column; the away team is in the right column.


2004 in American television
The following is a list of events affecting American television during 2004. Events listed include television series debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel initiations.


2004 in Australia
The following lists events that happened during 2004 in Australia.


2004 in Australia, Events, June
Defence Minister Robert Hill admits that his office knew of allegations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners.


2004 in Australian literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2004.


2004 in Australian literature, Awards and honours
Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.


2004 in Australian television, Programming Changes, Changes to network affiliation
This is a list of programs which made their premiere on an Australian television network that had previously premiered on another Australian television network. The networks involved in the switch of allegiances are predominantly both free-to-air networks or both subscription television networks. Programs that have their free-to-air/subscription television premiere, after previously premiering on the opposite platform (free-to air to subscription/subscription to free-to air) are not included. In some cases, programs may still air on the original television network. This occurs predominantly with programs shared between subscription television networks.


2004 in Australian television, Programming Changes, Subscription premieres
This is a list of programs which made their premiere on Australian subscription television that had previously premiered on Australian free-to-air television. Programs may still air on the original free-to-air television network.


2004 in Bangladesh
2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2004th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 4th  year of the 3rd millennium, the 4th  year of the 21st century, and the  5th   year of the 2000s decade.


2004 in Bangladesh
The year 2004 was the 33rd year after the independence of Bangladesh. It was the fourth year of the third term of the government of Khaleda Zia.


2004 in Bangladesh, Climate, Flood
Following early flooding in the northwest districts of Bangladesh in April, monsoon flood intensified in early July leading to the destruction of the rice crop in that region just before it was harvested. Water persisted in these regions for 3 to 4 weeks whilst gradually draining southwards, severely flooding most of Central Bangladesh. The high water level and widest extent of the flood was reached on 24 July. In total 39 out of 64 districts and 36 million people were affected.


2004 in Bangladesh, Climate, Flood
The water had receded in most places by mid-August, but in mid-September, a localised depression caused continuous torrential rain and high winds over a six-day period, bringing renewed flooding to many parts of Central Bangladesh, but also flooding areas never normally flooded by the rivers, including Dhaka and other urban areas.


2004 in Bangladesh, Economy
Note: For the year 2004 average official exchange rate for BDT was 59.51 per US$.


2004 in Belgian television
This is a list of Belgian television related events from 2004.


2004 in Belgium
This article details events occurring in the year 2004 in Belgium. Major events include a gas explosion in Ghislenghien, which killed 24 people, and the restructuring of the  Vlaams Blok political party.


2004 in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The following lists events that happened during 2004 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


2004 in Brazilian football
The following article presents a summary of the 2004 football (soccer) season in Brazil, which was the 103rd season of competitive football in the country.


2004 in Brazilian football, Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Relegation
The four worst placed teams, which are Criciúma, Guarani, Vitória and Grêmio, were relegated to the following year's second level.


2004 in Brazilian football, Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, Promotion
The two best placed teams in the final stage of the competition, which are Brasiliense and Fortaleza, were promoted to the following year's first level.


2004 in Brazilian football, Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, Relegation
The six worst placed teams, which are América-RN, Remo, América-MG, Joinville, Mogi Mirim and Londrina, were relegated to the following year's third level.


2004 in Brazilian football, Campeonato Brasileiro Série C
União Barbarense declared as the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C champions.


2004 in Brazilian football, Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, Promotion
The two best placed teams in the final stage of the competition, which are União Barbarense and Gama, were promoted to the following year's second level.


2004 in Brazilian football, Copa do Brasil
The Copa do Brasil final was played between Santo André and Flamengo.


2004 in Brazilian football, Copa do Brasil
Santo André declared as the cup champions by aggregate score of 4-2.


2004 in Brazilian football, Brazil national team
The following table lists all the games played by the Brazil national football team in official competitions and friendly matches during 2004.


2004 in Brazilian football, Women's football, Brazil women's national football team
The following table lists all the games played by the Brazil women's national football team in official competitions and friendly matches during 2004.


2004 in Brazilian football, Women's football, Brazil women's national football team
The Brazil women's national football team competed in the following competitions in 2004: