Kabul - Afghan forces boosted security in and around Kabul city on Wednesday to avoid potential attacks by Taliban militants during the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai for his second term in office slated for Thursday. Kabul's only international airport is due to be closed to commercial flights on Thursday, while the Afghan Defence Ministry said that several roads leading to Karzai's fortified presidential palace, where the event is scheduled to take place, would be closed to traffic.
In a statement, the ministry, which is responsible for security for the event, declared a public holiday for government offices in the capital, and at the same time asked Kabul residents to avoid unnecessary journeys in the city.
Afghan forces are to provide security for Thursday's event, while thousands of NATO-led troops stationed in Kabul will be on standby to assist if needed, an army official said.
Fears of Taliban attacks were already looming in Kabul as additional heavily armed security forces were seen patrolling on city boulevards on Wednesday and new checkpoints were erected in various parts of the city to inspect vehicles. There was also less traffic in the city than usual.
The unprecedented security measures are meant to make sure there is enough security for the event that is expected to be attended by Western and regional senior government officials, including heads of state and several foreign ministers as well as hundreds of Afghan dignitaries.
Wary of attacks, the United Nations ordered its international staff to remain indoors for three days starting from Wednesday, a UN official said.
Karzai, who was declared the winner of the fraud-tainted elections after his main rival boycotted a planned November 7 runoff, is due to be sworn in for a second five-year term.
He failed to win the August 20 elections, because a UN-backed investigation discounted around one million of fraudulent votes - most of them favouring him - and pushed for a runoff election with Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister.
Many Afghans still question the legitimacy of Karzai's presidency, because during the first round he did not garner the more than 50 per cent of the vote needed to be the outright winner and was only declared the victor when he remained the sole candidate in the second round of balloting.
The Taliban consider Karzai to be a puppet of the West, which has more than 100,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan to protect the Kabul administration and to quell the rampant insurgency.
Taliban militants carried out hundreds of attacks around the August 20 election and threatened to stop the runoff. To back up their warnings, they attacked a UN guesthouse in Kabul before the second round of the election was cancelled and killed five international staff.
The attack forced the world body to relocate 600 people, or more than half of its international staff, to safer locations inside the country and abroad. The UN moved hundreds of its staff from at least 60 private houses, which were used as hostels for foreign personnel, to larger compounds in Kabul city.
In recent months, the militants have fired dozens of rockets into Kabul, and have unleashed numerous suicide bombers on Afghan and NATO targets, leaving dozens of people dead.
Karzai, who has become an increasingly unpopular leader because of endemic corruption marring his government in the past five years, is under mounting pressure by Western leaders to reform his cabinet and crack down on widespread graft. Should he fail, the leaders warned, Karzai will face the loss of international support for his government.
In a sign to show that he is willing to bow to international pressure, Karzai's government unveiled an anti-corruption unit and major crime fighting force on Monday. The president has also repeatedly said in recent weeks that no corrupt official would have a place in his future administration.
