AFGHANISTAN: For 30 years coups, assassinations and invasions were the usual means of power transfer in Kabul. But yesterday Mr Hamid Karzai broke with bloody tradition and assumed office with a simple formula of words, writes Declan Walsh in Kabul
Laying a hand on the Koran, Afghanistan's first democratic president swore his allegiance inside the former royal palace that was once the scene of thunderous gun-battles but has since been renovated to welcome 600 guests.
"We have left a hard and dark past behind us, and today we are opening a new chapter in our history," said the blue-blooded Pashtun leader, who has led his country since the US-led invasion in 2001.
But the perils of power reverberated silently during the short, simple ceremony, which opened with a reading of Islamic verses and songs from a children's choir.
Beside Mr Karzai sat Mr Zahir Shah, the king who fled into exile in 1973 after being deposed by his cousin.
Outside the palace, US, Afghan and European soldiers buckled a tight security perimeter designed to deter Taliban attacks.
Several streets were sealed off, surveillance helicopters droned overhead, and German peacekeepers patrolled on foot.
But yet again the fundamentalists failed to deliver on threats of violence and mayhem, lending credence to suspicions that their insurgency has lost its potency.
That triumph will have pleased US Vice-President Mr Dick Cheney, who flew in with Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld to salute the Bush administration's pet foreign policy success. Earlier, Mr Cheney rallied American troops in a speech at Bagram airbase, north of Kabul. "Freedom still has enemies here in Afghanistan, and you are here to make those enemies miserable," he said.
Mr Rumsfeld told troops that in the years ahead they would look back on their service with a sense of pride. "You've been part of something enormously important." He cautioned, however, that the military's mission would continue. "It's not over. There are still groups, extremists, that would like to take this country back ... It's not going to happen."
The thorniest challenge to Mr Karzai's administration lay inside the palace. Fighting the opium trade would be a priority, he stressed, alongside improving security, disarming gunmen and reducing poverty. But many of the men sitting before him - warlords, outgoing cabinet ministers and governors - are also suspected of involvement in the the record production of opium, the raw material for heroin. Production rose 64 per cent this year.
Most Afghans are looking to Mr Karzai's cabinet line-up, expected soon, for signs that his administration can deliver the promised break from the corrupt, blood-stained past. Analysts are urging Mr Karzai to spurn the wheeler-dealer Mujahideen leaders for educated and qualified ministers.
"This is President Karzai's big chance," said Mr Brad Adam of Human Rights Watch. "He has a popular mandate from the Afghan people. He should use it to end impunity and warlord rule, now and forever." - (Guardian Service)