By Ian McWilliam BBC correspondent in Kabul

Hamid Karzai - the first president of Afghanistan's post-Taliban administration - is celebrating his first year in office on Sunday.

He was inaugurated a year ago, amid widespread optimism for the country's emergence from two decades of war.

Beyond the capital, large swathes of the country are controlled by regional strongmen

Mr Karzai's government says it has brought a new stability to Afghanistan - but this first year has not been easy.

After two decades of Soviet occupation and civil war, Mr Karzai can take a certain pride merely in staying in power in country that is a notoriously difficult country to govern.

He has presided over a year of relative peace, which optimists say bodes well for the future.

However the Kabul government is national only in name.

Beyond the capital, large swathes of the country are controlled by regional strongmen who support the central authorities in theory - but in practice run their territories like feudal lords.

The central government relies for its income largely on international aid and with only the beginnings of a national army it cannot enforce its authority beyond the capital.

Refugees

President Karzai wants to push ahead with reconstruction projects which will help to restart the shattered economy.

The Afghan army's reach is limited

One priority is rebuilding roads and bridges to stimulate trade. Encouraging more refugees to return to the country is another.

Some two million Afghans have come back to their homeland with the return of peace.

Kabul is finding it hard to absorb its share of this huge influx, but the return of families to the villages will be essential to restart the agriculture on which most Afghans still depend for survival.

In the meantime, various commissions are busy writing a new constitution, drawing up a new legal code and trying to create the institutions of modern government.

There is no certainty yet that they will succeed, but continued international help is the best guarantee that Kabul will keep moving in the right direction.