Karzai sworn in as Afghan president

Hamid Karzai was sworn in today as Afghanistan’s first popularly-elected president, opening a new chapter for the country while warning that the wars against terrorism and drugs will require sustained international help.

A smiling Karzai, wearing a traditional green robe and a black lambskin hat, received a standing ovation on his arrival.

US Vice President Dick Cheney, the highest-ranking American official to visit Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, was among the 600 guests, including 150 foreign dignitaries.

Karzai placed his right hand on a copy of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, and repeated an oath of allegiance read to him by Afghanistan’s white-bearded chief justice, Fazl Hadi Shinwari.

Karzai then swore in his two deputies, Ahmad Zia Massood and Karim Khalili, members of the country’s two largest ethnic minorities.

Wary of attacks by Taliban or al-Qaida militants, Afghan and international forces launched their biggest security operation since the October 9 election that gave Karzai a landslide victory.

Police sealed off the 2.5-mile route from Kabul airport to the palace, and Nato troops patrolled the city on foot.

Cheney, arriving at the main US base north of Kabul early today, congratulated some of the 17,000 US troops there for helping give democracy a chance to take root.

“For the first time the people of this country are looking confident about the future of freedom and peace,” Cheney said.

“Freedom still has enemies here in Afghanistan, and you are here to make those enemies miserable.”