The US strategy of pounding Taleban and al-Qaeda from the air while linking up with Northern Alliance forces on the ground proved highly effective. Kabul and the rest of the country soon fell.
A new interim government under Hamid Karzai was set up and confirmed by a tribal council, the loya jirga. Refugees flooded back in to rebuild their lives. Girls were able to go to school again.
But factional fighting and warlordism remained a problem and American and other foreign forces stayed in the country to stop the return of Taleban and al-Qaeda. Elections are due in 2004.
![]() The BBC's Lyse Doucet examines the challenges in Afghanistan following liberation from the Taleban ![]() ![]() |