Major events in Afghanistan since December 2001 election of Karzai

KABUL, Oct 9 (AFP) - Afghanistan holds its first ever presidential election Saturday. Following is a list of major events since the current President Hamid Karzai took office in 2001.

2001
Dec 5: Afghan factions meet in Bonn under United Nations auspices, agree on the setting up of an interim government headed by the Pashtun royalist Hamid Karzai and on the deployment of an international security force.
Dec 6: Fall of Kandahar, the southwestern Afghan city and headquarters of the Taliban Islamic militia, two months after the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom by US allies who had earlier chased the fundamentalists from Kabul on November 13.
Dec 22: The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is formed with 4,500 troops and a multi-ethnic government headed by Karzai is put together.

2002
Feb 14: Civil aviation minister Abdul Rahman is assassinated.
April 18: Former king Zahir Shah, 87, returns from 29 years' exile in Rome.
June 13: Karzai is elected for a two-year term by the traditional assembly, the Loya Jirga. Under US pressure, Zahir Shah renounces claim to be head of state.
July 6: Public works minister Haji Abdul Qadir assassinated.
Sept 5: Karzai survives an assassination attempt in the southern city of Kandahar. The same day 30 Afghans are killed in car bomb explosion in Kabul.

2003
Jan 15: Attempted suicide attack on vice minister of defence and Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam at his northern stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Feb 3: US report points to Afghanistan as the world's top opium producer in 2002.
Feb 28: Feuding warlords Dostam and the ethnic Tajik Mohammad Atta agree to end tensions in northern Afghanistan.
March 15: The first two brigades of the new Afghan army are formally inducted.
March 17: Donors conference in Brussels pledges two billion dollars towards rebuilding Afghanistan.
May 1: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visits Kabul and declares it is time to rebuild Afghanistan.
May 8: As fears grow for the safety of its staff, the UN mission to Afghanistan suspends all its activities in the south of the country. On May 22, non-governmental organisations carrying out demining programmes also withdraw.
May 20: The governors of 10 provinces and leading warlords, meeting in Kabul, agree to respect the authority of the central government, following a fervent appeal by Karzai.
May 23: Dostam is named Karzai's advisor on military matters.
June 7: A public consultation process is launched throughout Afghanistan with a view to adopting its future constitution.
Aug 11: NATO officially takes charge of the International Security Assistance Force, the first NATO mission outside of Europe since its inception 54 years ago.
Aug 13: Karzai dismisses warlord Ismail Khan, the governor of the province of Herat, from his position as military commander for western Afghanistan.
Oct 24: Ambitious programme launched to disarm the militia controlled by warlords in order to boost the authority of the central government and its army.

2004
Jan 4: The loya jirga approves the new constitution envisaging a presidential system of government.
Jan 6: The International Security Assistance Force extends its mandate beyond securing Kabul and takes command of seven civil-military reconstruction teams set up by the US army.
Jan 12: Hundredth US soldier dies since late 2001.
March 14: Five political parties approved by the justice ministry to take part in elections.
March 24: NATO agrees to help Afghanistan ensure security for its elections.
March 28: Karzai announces elections scheduled for June will be delayed until September.
March 26: UN Security Council extends term of UN mission in Afghanistan.
March 31: Berlin donors conference pledges 8.2 billion dollars in aid. For 2004, the promised amount is 4.4 billion dollars.
May 3: Leaders of Hezb-i-Islami militant movement announce they would give up armed conflict and back Karzai. The government approves the creation by the US army of a new pro-government militia, the 2,000-strong Afghan National Guards.
May 4: Thirty-five cases of ill-treatment of Afghan and Iraqi detainees leading to the deaths of 25 of them in US military prisons come to light.
July 9: The electoral commission announces presidential elections will be on October 9, but delays parliamentary polls.
July 22: A US inquiry turns up 94 cases of ill-treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Aug 10: The electoral commission announces Karzai will face 17 challengers in the October 9 elections.
Sept 17: UN Security Council renews ISAF mandate until October 2005.
Sept 20: One of the four vice presidents of Afghanistan, Nematullah Shahrani, survives a bombing attempt in Kunduz province.
Oct 6: Election campaigning ends with a failed assassination attempt on Karzai's candidate for first vice president, Ahmad Zia Masood, brother of the late legendary commander Ahmed Shah Masood.
Oct 8: A rocket hits