Karzai sworn in for 2nd term, vows to combat corruption

KABUL:  President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term on Thursday morning in a ceremony in which he made peace and reconciliation his top priority and said he wanted Afghans to assume control of their own security by the end of his five-year term.

In a 30-minute acceptance speech in the presidential palace, Karzai hit many of the same notes that he had during the election. He invited insurgent fighters to lay down their arms and said he would convene a grand council to promote reconciliation.

"Securing peace and an end to fighting are the most significant demands of our people," Karzai said, according to an English translation of his prepared remarks. "It is a recognized fact that security and peace cannot be achieved through fighting and violence. ... Afghanistan has placed national reconciliation at the top of its peace-building policy."

Speaking from a podium in front of a row of Afghan flags, Karzai also highlighted the need to reform his government and combat corruption--two issues of urgency for American officials as Karzai forms a new cabinet. He said he will push for a new law that would require all senior officials, especially ministers, governors and deputy ministers, to declare their property and assets. He said he would convene a conference in Kabul to generate new ideas for fighting corruption.

"The government of Afghanistan is committed to end the culture of impunity and violation of law and bring to justice those involved in spreading corruption and abuse of public property," Karzai said. "Corruption and bribery constitute a very dangerous problem. We want to follow this issue seriously."

Karzai spoke in front of hundreds of people including a host of foreign dignitaries, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. Clinton, on her first visit to Afghanistan as secretary of state, held a breakfast meeting at the embassy Thursday morning with senior diplomats from coalition countries fighting in Afghanistan. After the inauguration she planned to have lunch with Karzai at the foreign ministry, her second meeting with the president in two days. She has delivered a message about the need to battle corruption and improve governance.

Residents of Kabul woke on Thursday to extreme security precautions. Afghan security forces were posted throughout the city to guard against Taliban violence. Many roads were blocked and traffic was kept off the streets, particularly around the presidential palace and American diplomatic and military and headquarters.

On a cold sunny morning, after listening to the national anthem outside in front of Afghan soldiers, Karzai walked along a red carpet under a white archway and into a palace ceremonial hall. He was greeted by a standing ovation before taking a seat in the front row, across the aisle from Zardari and Clinton. Karzai was sworn in by the chief justice of Afghanistan's supreme court, and then his two vice presidents, Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Kareem Khalili, took the oath.

Karzai's new term begins amid growing doubts within the Obama administration of Karzai's ability to control the bribery and cronyism that have sapped the Afghan public's confidence in the government. The growing Taliban violence has also become an urgent concern, and Obama said he is very close to making a decision about whether to send thousands more American soldiers into the war.