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Chronology: All time shown below are approximate Eastern Daylight Times.

Sunday, October 7, 2001
US and Allies Strike Back!

President Bush Announces US Air Strikes
White House transcript of President Bush's address to the nation, Oct. 7, 2001

Also Today: British journalist Yvonne Ridley, 43, was release from an Afghan prison. Ridley had been held by the Taliban government for over a month after entering Afghanistan illegally. 

• US and British attacks destroyed a Taliban communications command center located at the Kanadahar airport.
• The Taliban reported that Osama bin Laden had survived the initial U.S. strikes. 
• Vice President Dick Cheney was transferred to a secure location as U.S. strikes into Afghanistan began.
• The U.S. Coast Guard established 24-hour armed patrol at over 300 U.S. ports.

Interesting fact: B-2 Stealth bombers attacking locations in Afghanistan begin their missions from bases inside the continental United States. The crews fly non-stop, refueling in midair several times in route to their targets.

11:50 pm - Residents of Kabul reported finding several dead following several waves of U.S.-British attacks in Taliban military installations in Afghanistan. 

7:40 pm - The FBI asked all U.S. police forces to operate at their highest levels of alert for "any act of terrorism or violence" resulting from U.S. strikes in Afghanistan. 

6:00 pm - Forces of the Northern Alliance took advantage of US-led air strikes to launch renewed attacks on Taliban forces located about 30 miles from the Afghan capital of Kabul. 

5:15 pm - The Taliban reported another wave of U.S.-led forces had attacked the Afghan capital of Kabul. "The attacks are being renewed,'' Taliban Foreign Ministry official Mohammad Qasim Halimi told Qatar's al-Jazeera television. Taliban air defense locations were reported to be firing in response. 

3:00 pm - Appearing on a video tape made after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., and aired today on Qatar's al-Jazeera television, Osama bin Laden stated, "I swear to God to that America will not live in peace before peace reigns in Palestine." 

2:45 pm - Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld held a press conference at which he stated the long range goal of U.S. strikes into Afghanistan was to defeat terrorism and those who support or house terrorist organizations. He stressed that the attacks were not directed against the Afghan people, but against the al Qaeda terrorist group and its support networks operating inside Afghanistan. According Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard B. Myers, the first wave of attacks was carried out by U.S. and British forces employing some 15 land-based bombers, 25 fighter jets, 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles and a variety of U.S. and British submarines and naval vessels located in the Arabian Sea. Gen. Myers also stated that he had received no reports of U.S. or British aircraft downed during the initial strikes. Secretary Rumsfeld stated that airdrops of humanitarian aid supplies to the Afghan people would also begin immediately. 

2:30 pm - Calling the start of U.S. - British attacks against the Taliban "a moment of the utmost gravity," British Prime Minister Tony Blair address the nation on nationwide television. 

2:00 pm - Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, Taliban ambassador to Pakistan referred to the U.S. strikes into Afghanistan as a "terrorist" attack. "We tried hard to find a solution to the problem, but America chose the path of its power and arrogance,'' Zaeef was quoted by the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). ''We cannot hand over Osama to America," he said. 

1:00 pm - Addressing the nation, President Bush confirmed that U.S. and British forces had launched coordinated strikes into Afghanistan designed to disrupt lines of communications between the Taliban and terrorist camps and to destroy strategic military targets. "We are supported by the collective will of the world," stated the president. No specific targets were identified. The president stated that as strikes against military targets continued, the U.S. would also be dropping food and medicine to assist the civilian people of Afghanistan. [Transcript of President Bush's Address]

12:40 pm - The United States launched initial air strikes against targets in both Kabul and Kanadahar, Afghanistan. 

8:45 am - The Associated Press reported that Afghanistan's ruling Taliban stated they would detain Osama bin Laden and try him under Islamic law, provided that the U.S. specifically requested it and provided detailed evidence proving bin Laden's role in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. The White House repeated its demand that the situation is not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must hand over bin Laden and his supporters, and dismantle all terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, stated President Bush. 

6:55 am - The Voice of America reported that U.S. aircraft landed in Uzbekistan carrying the first group of some 1000 soldiers assigned to support humanitarian airdrops into Afghanistan. The Uzbek Defense Ministry would not comment on the VOA report. 

3:45 am - The Taliban said they were sending 8,000 troops along the Afghanistan's border with Uzbekistan and increasing its defenses around the capital city of Kabul.