International Conference on Afghanistan, Bonn (2001)

In December 2001, after Operation Enduring Freedom had toppled the Taliban government of Afghanistan, the German city of Bonn hosted a conference—widely known as the Bonn Conference—of Afghan leaders at Hotel Petersberg, to choose the leader of an Afghan Interim Authority and establish an initial political agreement for reorganising the governmental institutions of Afghanistan.

Not included were the Taliban themselves, which seemed like an obvious choice at the time since they appeared defeated, but in hindsight their absence may have greatly prolonged the Afghan conflict.

The country risked sliding back into the anarchical warlord period of the Afghan Civil War (1992–1996), which had seen widespread atrocities and given rise to the Taliban.

King Mohammed Zahir Shah, in exile in Italy since 1973, had good support but he lacked practical experience in fighting mujahedeen style and was now an elderly 87.

Burhanuddin Rabbani, leader of the Jamiat-e Islami, was nominally the current president but needed the backing of the conference if he was to stay in power any longer.

Karzai was informed of his elevation to the presidency on December 5, 2001, only minutes after a US air strike mistakenly targeted him; he had escaped with minor injuries, but 13 others including top advisors were killed.