On October 7, 2001, Afghanistan shook under the pounding that marked the first official U.S. and allied airstrikes on targets inside Afghanistan since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Twelve months on, the Taliban have been disbanded and the country is rebuilding, with schools and hospitals reopening and business started.

But Hamid Karzai's new government still faces a huge task.

Decades of war have destroyed most of the infrastructure and the country is littered with mines and bombs. Severe drought, food shortages and human rights abuses have displaced millions of people.

The international community has pledged $4.5 billion in aid and the challenge now is to ensure that the money gets into the right hands, in a country with a fledgling bureaucracy and a government that continues to be destabilized by violence.