Karzai warns of threats in inaugural Afghan presidency address

HAMID KARZAI was sworn in yesterday as Afghanistan's first popularly elected president, calling for help from the international community to bolster a democracy facing the threats of terrorism and drugs.

The US-backed leader, wearing a traditional green robe and a lambskin hat, took the oath of office in a ceremony in the war-damaged former royal palace.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney, the highest-ranking US official to visit Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attended.