The Taliban capture Kabul, driving out rival Afghan guerrilla groups

The Taliban hang ex-president Najibullah and his brother at Kabul's major traffic intersection

Thousands of Shia Muslims are massacred by the Taliban in Mazar-e-Sharif, in a brief spell before they are driven from the city

The Taliban recapture Mazar-e-Sharif, giving them control of 90% of Afghanistan

US cruise missiles attack al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical factory in Khartoum

Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance, is fatally wounded in an attack by two suicide bombers

US and UK forces launch military action against Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan

The Northern Alliance, the army of the Afghan resistance to the Taliban, drives the Taliban from Kabul

A month after the fall of Kabul, the Northern Alliance drives the Taliban from their power base in Kandahar

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan sweeps the Taliban from power, ending their protection of al-Qaeda

In spite of a massive military operation, the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden escapes US pursuit in Afghanistan

Afghan aristocrat and politician Hamid Karzai heads an interim government in his country

Hamid Karzai becomes the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan