February 1:Meeting in London, international donors agree to provide more than $10
billion in aid to Afghanistan over the next five years. As part of a “compact” with
donors, the government of President Hamid Karzai pledges specific steps, including
cracking down on corruption and mismanagement.
February 22:Gunmen dressed as policemen detonate bombs that destroy most of the
famed Golden Dome shrine in Samarra, one of the most important Shiite shrines.
The bombing escalates sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis that contin-
ues throughout 2006 and into 2007.
April 21:Members of the Shiite majority bloc in the new Iraqi parliament select Nuri
al-Maliki of the al-Dawa Party as prime minister.
May 4:A new coalition government headed by Ehud Olmert takes office in Israel as
the result of March 28 elections.
May 15:Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announces that the United States will
restore full diplomatic relations with Libya, completing a process of reconciliation
that began in December 2003 with Libya’s renunciation of weapons of mass destruc-
tion. Washington had suspected diplomatic ties with Tripoli in 1979.
June 7:The U.S. military bombs a house in Baquba, north of Baghdad, killing Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of a Sunni insurgent group calling itself al-Qaida in
Mesopotamia. President Bush claims the killing of Zarqawi is an important victory.
June 25:Iraqi prime minister Maliki presents a National Reconciliation and Dialogue
Project to the parliament. It calls for a limited amnesty and other provisions to
reduce sectarian tensions.
June 25:Palestinian guerrillas cross into Israel from Gaza and capture an Israeli sol-
dier. Two soldiers and three Palestinians are killed in an ensuing gun battle. Israel
then launches air attacks, lasting into late July, against the Gaza Strip but fails to
secure the release of the captured soldier.
July 12:Hizballah guerrillas cross from Lebanon into Israel, where they kill three Israeli
soldiers and capture two others. In a subsequent skirmish, five more Israeli soldiers
and an unknown number of Hizballah fighters are killed. Israel launches a broad
air attack on Hizballah targets in Lebanon, leading to a month-long war that will
kill more than 1,000 Lebanese and nearly 150 Israelis.
July 31:The United States hands the NATO alliance command of coalition forces in
southern Afghanistan.
August 14:All sides in the Hizballah-Israeli war accept UN Security Council Resolu-
tion 1701, adopted on August 11, calling for a cease-fire.
November 6:Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is found guilty of murder and other
charges in connection with the killing of 148 Shiite boys and men in Dujail in
- He is sentenced to death.
November 23:More than 280 people are killed in numerous attacks in Iraq, includ-
ing five car bombs that kill 215 people in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in
Baghdad. This is one of the bloodiest days in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion.
November 28:The New York Timespublishes a leaked memo, written by national secu-
rity advisor Stephen Hadley, that questions the abilities and political will of Iraqi
prime minister Maliki. President Bush will meet with Maliki, in Jordan on Novem-
ber 30, and affirm his support for him.
December 1:Hizballah mounts large demonstrations in Beirut calling for the resigna-
tion of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. The demonstrations will continue for several
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