It was a year on Monday since the United States and its allies began Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan that led to the eventual toppling of the Taliban regime and the scattering of their Al Qaeda sponsors.

The United States blamed Al Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed some 2,800 people, and demanded that the Taliban expel them from Afghanistan. When the regime refused, the United States, Britain and other nations threw their weight behind the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and began air strikes on 7 October, 2001.

The results of the "war on terrorism" after the first year are mixed. There have been no major terrorist attacks worldwide and international cooperation has resulted in the arrest of many suspected Al Qaeda members, but many top members of the group, including Bin Laden and his top aide Ayman Al Zawahiri, remain unaccounted for. Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar also remains at large.

US troops still operate in parts of Afghanistan seeking Al Qaeda and Taliban members, and have had mixed results.

Pockets of Al Qaeda and Taliban are still believed to cross the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, protected by tribesman who are loyal to Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns. The group also dominates Pakistan's fabled Northwest Frontier Province that borders Afghanistan.

The Taliban was toppled last December, and Afghanistan is now ruled by a UN-backed government headed by Hamid Karzai.

The Afghan leader is now trying to delicately balance various ethnic groups and rivalries and keep at bay the country's notorious warlords in an effort to bring peace to his country. However, that has not been easy. Terrorists have killed top ministers in his Cabinet, including one of his vice presidents, and there have been several reports of disgruntled Cabinet minister.

Neighboring Pakistan, one of three countries that supported the Taliban, dumped its former allies soon after the September 11 attacks and declared its support for Washington. That move angered many Islamist parties in the country, and Pakistan soon became the scene of terrorist attacks against Western and Christian targets.

The "war on terrorism" has also been taken to the Philippines, where US Special Forces aided the Filipino military in targeting the Abu Sayyaf group, which is believed linked to Al Qaeda. The Abu Sayyaf leader was killed in one such operation.

Washington and its global allies have also tried to choke off the financial lifeline that supplies funds to terrorist organizations with mixed results.

The international community had firmly backed the United States in the "war on terrorism," but several pockets of dissent have emerged in recent days.

Human rights groups have alleged that several nations such as Russia and China have used the September 11 attacks as an excuse to crack down on their own separatist movements. India and Pakistan have come close to war over attacks in India, which New Delhi blames on Pakistan-backed militant groups.

The Middle East remains divided over the identity of the September 11 hijackers, with many insisting the attacks were an Israeli plot, though most of the hijackers were Saudi nationals.

Ties between Saudi Arabia, once America's closest Arab ally, and Washington have been increasingly frigid despite public pronouncements to the contrary, and there are doubts that the kingdom will allow its bases to be used for any attack on Iraq.

The international community is divided over whether Iraq should be the next target in the "war on terrorism," and several US allies such as Germany have opposed military action to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.United Press International