Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in Thursday for a second term in office amid tight security at Kabul's presidential palace as authorities feared attacks by Taliban militants. Wearing a black lambskin hat and a green traditional striped silk coat over his shoulders, 51-year-old Karzai took his oath in a nationally televised ceremony.
"I swear to obey and safeguard the provisions of the sacred religion of Islam, to observe the constitution and other laws of Afghanistan and supervise their implementation," Karzai said, repeating the oath of allegiance.
Karzai then swore in his two vice presidents, Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Mohammad Karim Khalili, both powerful ex-warlords and members of the country's two largest ethnic minorities.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain took part in the ceremony.
Clinton was the highest-ranking US official to visit Afghanistan since President Barack Obama took office.
More than 1,000 people, among about 250 international guests, attended the swearing-in of the increasingly controversial president.
Kabul on complete lockdown with major roads leading to the presidential palace closed to traffic and all commercial fights cancelled. Thursday was declared a public holiday in Kabul, and citizens were also told to avoid unnecessary journeys.
Karzai, who faces daunting challenges, including a rampant Taliban-led insurgency, during his next five-year term called on Taliban militants to come back to mainstream life and renounce violence.
"It has been 30 years that our people have been making sacrifices to have peace," Karzai said in his inaugural speech. "It is a reality that bringing peace and security can't only be accomplished through war and violence.
"We welcome all those countrymen, who are not linked to international terrorist networks, and who want to have a peaceful life in the light of our constitution. We will extend necessary assistance to them," he said.
He said that his next administration was determined to convene a tribal council, or loya jirga, to facilitate reconciliation with the militants.
The Taliban have repeatedly said that they consider Karzai to be a puppet of the West, vowing to continue their war against the Kabul government until they force out the more than 100,000 international troops deployed to Afghanistan.
In the latest series of attacks carried out by the militants, a Taliban bomber killed two US soldiers in southern province of Zabul, while ten Afghan civilians, including two children, were killed in a similar attack in another southern province of Uruzgan on the same day.
Karzai said that the army was ready to take the lead in anti-insurgent operations the country's most volatile regions within three years, in the rest of the country within five years.
Public support for the continued engagement of US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan is waning in Western countries, forcing NATO leaders to consider an exit strategy.
Once regarded as darling of the West, Karzai has become increasingly unpopular because of his inability to bring security to the strife-torn country and crack down on widespread corruption that crippled his administration in the past five years.
Karzai came under fire from his government's Western allies, when - in a bid to guarantee his reelection - he chose Fahim, who faces accusations of human rights abuses, as running mate, and accepted support by General Abdul Rashid Dostum during the election.
Dostum, an Uzbek warlord is accused of being allegedly responsible for the deaths of up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners in late 2001.
Lack of confidence in Karzai increased after his supporters engineered widespread vote-rigging in the August 20 presidential elections.
Karzai was named president in the fraud-marred polls after his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, pulled out of a runoff.
Since being declared the winner, Karzai has been under mounting pressure by Western leaders to crack down on graft and reform his future administration and was warned that he risked the the loss of civilian aid for his government if he failed.
In a move to appease its international patrons, the government unveiled an anti-corruption unit and a new crime fighting force earlier this week.
During Thursday's speech, the president once again lashed out at international media for exaggerating the problem of corruption in his administration.
"Whatever the truth may be, these allegations have given the Afghan administration a very bad reputation," he said.
"Corruption and bribery constitute a very dangerous problem. We want to follow this issue seriously. We consider combating this difficulty our duty," Karzai said.
The new cabinet ministers will all be competent and professionals, Karzai assured, adding that in order to prevent corruption, a new law will be adopted, under which all senior government officials will be obliged to declare and register all their assets.
