Yahoo TV

STORY: Some people fired celebratory gunshots in the air in Kabul and Taliban fighters gathered, waving the group's black and white flag to mark a year since they marched into the capital after a stunning series of battlefield victories.

A few hundred people, including supporters, soldiers, and officials gathered at the square in front of the U.S. Embassy to mark the day.

The country is physically safer than it was when the hardline Islamist movement was fighting against U.S.-led foreign forces and their Afghan allies, although a local offshoot of Islamic State has carried out several attacks.

Yet that relative security cannot mask the scale of the challenge the Taliban face in setting Afghanistan on a path of economic growth and stability. There are huge pressures on the economy, caused in large part by the country's isolation as foreign governments refuse to recognize its rulers.