September 11: More than 3,000 people are killed in New York and Washington in attacks blamed on Osama bin Laden, who was being sheltered in Afghanistan, and his al-Qaida network.

October 7: First US-led military strikes launched on Afghanistan as the Taliban fail to meet US demands to hand over Bin Laden.

November 13: Northern Alliance forces enter Kabul following an overnight pullout by Taliban troops. The capture of the capital follows sweeping gains against Taliban forces across northern Afghanistan.

December 6: The Taliban agrees to surrender its last stronghold of Kandahar and supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar flees the city.

December 22: Hamid Karzai is sworn in as head of a 30-member post-Taliban government.

2002

September 5: Karzai survives assassination attempt in Kandahar. The same day 30 Afghans are killed in a car bomb explosion in Kabul.

2004

January 4: Traditional grand assembly, the Loya Jirga, approves a new constitution envisaging a presidential system of government.

October 9: First post-Taliban presidential elections pass off with little bloodshed despite militant threats.

November 3: Karzai proclaimed winner with 55 percent of vote.

2005

September 18: Voting in the first parliamentary elections in more than 30 years passes off with little violence.

(Source: China Daily