Some of the main warlords vying for power in post-Taliban Afghanistan:General Mohammed Qasim Fahim: The 44-year-old leader of the Northern Alliance, Fahim took over from the more charismatic boss Ahmed Shah Masood, who was killed by two of Osama bin Laden's suicide bombers on September 9.

An ethnic Tajik, Fahim built his reputation battling the Soviets and is a former head of intelligence for the mujahedin in Kabul.

He has no foreign languages and has never travelled outside Afghanistan, but Fahim now commands Shura-i-Nazar, the largest militia in the alliance.

He led the militia's triumphant forces into Kabul in 1992, after the Soviets left, and out again in 1996, when the Taliban took control.

Now he is poised to return once more, though in what capacity exactly remains to be seen.

He is compromised by his militia's record of bloodshed and failure during the days of the Soviet occupation.

General Abdul Rashid Dostum: A whisky-swilling veteran described as the biggest horsetrader of them all, General Dostum has switched sides a dizzying number of times.

Military-trained by the Soviets, Dostum is an ethnic Uzbek who ruled in the north of Afghanistan from his stronghold of Mazar-i- Sharif – where he is now back in power three years after being exiled by the Taliban.

He has variously allied his militia – the Jumbishi-i-Milli – with a Soviet-backed regime, a mujahedin government and Islamist forces.

This year, he joined forces with General Fahim and claims he would be content to support his overall command of the Northern Alliance. But that's provided General Fahim he keeps control of Mazar.

Ismail Khan: The legendary Iranian-backed Lion of Herat will now be settling back into the western power base after the departure of the Taliban.

An ethnic Tajik, Khan was praised for restraining feuding and bloody revenge – and for recognising women's equality – when he was governor of Herat after the Russians left in 1992.

But his administration was corrupt and his largely Tajik force had earned a reputation for cruelty during the Soviet days.

He was captured by the Taliban in 1996 but escaped last year.

Khan is famed for his political acumen and will be a vital link with the US.

He supports the coalition aims of ridding the country of al Qaida and the Taliban, but does not want to see US troops remaining in the country.

Burhannudin Rabbani: An Islamic cleric, Rabbani is still recognised outside Afghanistan as the country's president.

Rabbani went into self-imposed exile in 1971 in protest against the modernising government led by the king, Zahir Shah, and did not return until 1992.

He then ruled Kabul before the Taliban toppled him in 1996. The four-year reign of his group, Jamiat-i-Islami, was associated with anarchy and murder during its four years in power.

He can unite hardliners in Tajik and Uzbek groups but is unlikely to be a leader acceptable to the US.

Mohamed Ustad Atta: Atta joined forces with fellow Tajik Dostum to recapture Mazar-i-Sharif.

But the two men's vicious rivalry goes back to the Soviet occupation, when Dostum's Soviet allegiance meant they fought on opposite sides.

Atta, a former teacher, has 2,000 fighters but observers believe it is only a matter of time before his shaky alliance with Dostum falls apart.

Mohamed Mohaqeq: An ethic Hazara leader, Mohaqeq led the third faction to join the recapture of Mazar-i-Sharif. His Shia Muslims are bitter enemies of the Sunni Muslim Taliban and the two sides have indulged in bloody massacres of each other at various points over the last few years.

Karim Khalili: Khalili leads a coalition of eight Shia Muslim guerrilla groups with the umbrella name Shi'ite Hazara Hezb-i-Wahdat.

They have been keeping the Taliban busy with pockets of resistance in their heartland of the Hazarajat region in the centre of the country.

Abdurrab Rasul Sayyaf: A Pashtun and former professor of Islamic law, Sayyaf heads a group called Ittehad-i-Ismali.

He was neutral chairman of the first rebel alliance in 1980.

King Zahir Shah: The 87-year-old king was deposed in 1973 by a family member.

He has been touted as a figurehead for a post-war ruling council, but has been living in Italy for the past 30 years and is considered by some as too old.

The vast divisions between the warlords will make it difficult for the US-led coalition to achieve its aim of having a government in Afghanistan representative of all the ethnic groups.

Colonel Christopher Langton, head of the defence analysis department at the Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said: "There are groups who simply can't form a successful government and one of them is the Northern Alliance, because the word alliance is very misleading."

He said the West should not attempt to impose democracy, saying the coalition forces should aim to create stability in Afghanistan and then offer possible models for government.

But he warned: "They can't be there to restore law and order because there never was law and there never was order.

"It's a feudal society. If they meddle in that society, they will become a part of the problem.''