Even though Hamid Karzai's interim government is in office, and an international security force has begun patrolling Kabul, large numbers of US troops and aircraft are still engaged in the conflict. And contrary to his earlier statements Mr Karzai, in London this week to visit Tony Blair, appealed for more international troops to be sent to his country. Although Britain has insisted it will cease its security role in Afghanistan on schedule.

Experts also fear Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters - estimated last October as numbering 30,000 - may have retreated to the hills or melted into villages in time-honoured Afghan fashion, awaiting opportunities to strike as winter abates. Certainly, southern and eastern Afghanistan were highly volatile, particularly around Kandahar and Jalalabad.

However the heavy part of the US military operation in Afghanistan seems to be over. The fall of the Taliban's first and last stronghold in Kandahar on December 9th left the battle in the Tora Bora mountains to complete the campaign. That could still prove complicated, but the dire warnings about the risks of military intervention have so far been mostly proved wrong, and it has all happened much faster than anybody expected at the outset.

The FT 's day by day calendar gives you the key daily events from the devastation of September 11th to the end of the Taliban government and the fall of Kandahar in December 2001.

Click on a month to enter