Chronology of Major Events in Afghanistan

Key events in the past quarter century in Afghanistan:

_1979: The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, sparking a decade-long civil war with anti-communist mujahedeen forces supplied and trained by the United States.

_1989: The Soviets withdraw after about 15,000 of their troops are killed, leaving in place a pro-Moscow government. But fighting between rebels and government forces continues.

_1992: The puppet government collapses as insurgents advance on the capital, Kabul, ending 14 years of Soviet-backed regimes during which an estimated 2 million Afghans were killed and 6 million fled their homeland. But tension between rival rebels, moderates and Islamic fundamentalist forces quickly leads to further fighting.

_1994: An Islamic fundamentalist group, the Taliban, is formed out of the chaos of the civil war.

_1996: With the support of foreign sponsors, it takes control of Kabul and most of the country, outside of rival Northern Alliance strongholds primarily in the northeast. It introduces a hardline version of Islam.

_1998: The United States fires missiles at suspected bases of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who is accused of bombing U.S. embassies in East Africa.

_1999: The United Nations imposes sanctions on Afghanistan to try to force the Taliban to hand over bin Laden.

_Sept. 9, 2001: Two days before the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, two suspected al-Qaida assassins kill the Taliban's No. 1 enemy, Ahmed Shah Masood, head of the Northern Alliance.

Oct. 7, 2001: U.S. and British forces begin airstrikes against Afghanistan, after the Taliban refuse to hand over bin Laden, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks.

_Dec. 7, 2001: Taliban stronghold Kandahar falls. Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and bin Laden escape.

_Dec. 22, 2002: Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun who leads one of the largest tribes in southern Afghanistan, is sworn in as head of a six-month interim government.

_June 13, 2002: Karzai is elected as head of state of a new interim government by the loya jirga, or grand council.

_August, 2003: NATO deploys troops to Kabul for a peacekeeping mission. The force later expands to other areas and numbers 9,000.

_Jan. 4, 2004: After three weeks of wrangling, the loya jirga ratifies a new constitution, making Afghanistan an Islamic state with a strong president. The meeting paves the way for Oct. 9 elections.

_Oct. 9, 2004: Afghanistan holds its first-ever presidential election.