Taliban capture northern Afghanistan
1997 - Tanks flying the white Taliban flag rolled into the stronghold of northern warlord Rashid Dostum, as the last defences crumbled against the Islamic army’s three-year sweep of Afghanistan. With the Taliban in control of this ancient city, Afghanistan was virtually united under one regime for the first time since the Soviet army left in 1989, barring a few pockets of resistance. Taliban soldiers took down giant posters of Dostum from traffic posts, pillars and public buildings as the remnants of his army fled toward the Uzbekistan and Tajikistan borders about 60km to the north. Jeeps, tanks and personnel carriers rumbled through the mostly unpaved streets as residents watched from the side. On the lead tank was General Malik Pahlawan, Dostum’s second-in-command whose defection to the Taliban marked the beginning of Dostum’s downfall.
May 24
1830 - The first passenger railroad in the United States begins service between Baltimore and Elliott’s Mills, Maryland.
1881 -Some 200 people die when the Canadian ferry Princess Victoria sinks near London, Ontario.
1890 - American George Francis Train becomes fastest person to travel around the world, taking 67 days.
1900 - Britain annexes the Orange Free State.
1964 - Riot erupts at a football match in Lima, Peru, and 300 spectators are killed.
1981 - Ecuador’s President Jaime Roldos Aguilera is killed in a plane crash in the Andes.
1982 - The UAE breaks diplomatic relations with Zaire following its decision to resume diplomatic ties with Israel.
1991 - Eritrea declares its independence from Ethiopia.
1994 - More than 200 pilgrims are killed in a stampede during the annual Haj pilgrimage in Mina, Saudi Arabia.
1997 - Mohammad Khatami wins Iran’s presidential elections by a landslide.
1998 - The first multiparty vote in a region ruled by China’s Communists is held in Hong Kong. Pro-democracy parties win most of the legislature seats up for election.
2000 - Israel ends its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon.
2001 - Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb Mount Everest.
2002 - The US and Russia sign a nuclear arms reduction treaty in Moscow.
2009 - A trilateral summit in Tehran is attended by the presidents of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan to fight terrorism and drug trafficking.
2011 - A roadside bomb tears through a truck with workers in the restive Kandahar province, Afghanistan, killing 10 and wounding 28.
