New leader Hamid Karzai formally took power today, promising to end the strife that in two decades reduced Afghanistan to ruins and sucked in the armies of superpowers.
Overshadowing the ceremonies were reports that US warplanes had killed 65 people as they traveled to Kabul to attend the inauguration, bombing a convoy of tribal elders in the mistaken belief they were the enemy.
US officials insisted however the convoy had been carrying "Taliban and al Qaeda" leaders and had fired at its planes. Mr Karzai said he doubted the US aircraft had attacked the wrong people but would "check it out with our American friends."
The Pashtun aristocrat, 44 on Monday, was sworn in as chairman of an interim government in the country's first peaceful and undisputed handover of power for 28 years.
Mr Karzai's government has been charged with rebuilding the war-shattered country after the overthrow of its former Taliban rulers, who sheltered the Saudi-born Osama bin Laden and his fighters, blamed for the September 11 attacks on America that killed more than 3,000 people.
The Taliban have been routed by a US bombing campaign which, according to its critics, has also killed thousands of Afghan civilians.
"I would like to promise you that I will fulfil my mission to bring peace to Afghanistan," Mr Karzai told 2,000 tribal leaders, foreign diplomats and a US general attending the inauguration.
Mr Karzai administered the oath of office to the other 29 members of his interim government, expected to rule for six months, and embraced outgoing president Burhanuddin Rabbani.