Afghanistan: Karzai sworn in for second presidential term
Updated
The Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in today for a second five-year term, promising to fight corruption and put August's fraud-ridden elections behind him. Despite a UN-backed probe declaring a third of the votes he won in the August 20 elections were fake, Mr Karzai was declared the winner of the polls, after his main rival Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of second-round elections. Today's ceremony was held under tight security in front of hundreds of foreign and Afghan dignitaries.
Presenter: Sonja Heydeman
Speakers: Afghan President Hamid Karzai; US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Afghan Human Rights Commissioner Mohammad Farid Hamidi; Professor of Political Science at Australian National University Amin Saikal
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HEYDEMAN: President Hamid Karzai has pledged to tackle corruption and work in the spirit of cooperation as he was sworn in for a second five year term as the Afghan leader.
KARZAI: Today that I had the oath to be President I am a servant to all the people of Afghanistan … to every part of Afghanistan ... to every person from a child to elderly and I pray that God will help me to be successful in this way.
HEYDEMAN: In his inaugural address Mr. Karzai promised to step up the fight against the production and trafficking of drugs and said he wants Afghanistan to take over responsibility for the country's security in five years.
He also invited his challenger in the controversial election, Abdullah Abdullah, to join him in a national unity government.
Among the foreign dignitaries attending the ceremony was U-S secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Washington's increasingly expressed concerns about Mr Karzai's reliability both as a US ally and effective head of state, urging his government to eradicate corruption to counter an intensifying Taliban-led insurgency.
Mrs Clinton earlier said Mr Karzai needs to show he's serious about pledges he's made to tackle corruption.
CLINTON: We are asking that they follow through on much of what they have previously said, including putting together a credible anti-corruption ... something that truly can deliver on the concerns that we and the people of Afghanistan have about corruption.
HEYDEMAN: Leading rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on Mr Karzai to sever his links with warlords and abusers of human rights.
Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies and Professor of Political Science at Australian National University Amin Saikal, says President Karzai faces enormous challenges as he heads into his second term.
SAIKAL: That's largely because of the deals that he has made with a number of strong man before the election and now that is pay-back time and therefore he will have to really deliver the goods that he's promised to those people and it's also many of these people who have become the subject of international criticism for not only engaging in corruption but also maladministration. But now President Karzai is going to be in a very difficult position in terms of on the one hand fulfilling the expectations of the international community and more specifically of the United States and on the other hand paying back so called warlords who have supported him during the election.
HEYDEMAN: Professor Armin Saikal says without genuine action there can't be any progress in addressing areas of security and corruption.
SAIKAL: Unless President Karzai now makes a clean break with his past practices and tries to create a cabinet, which is not composed of these powerful man who have brought the votes which in many ways have been rigged … basically dropping them from inclusion in the cabinet and trying to appoint a number of important competent technocrats in the cabinet, and also you will have to reform the political system.
HEYDEMAN: Afghan Human Rights Commissioner Mohammad Farid Hamidi agrees the President faces challenges but says he believes the road ahead could ultimately be a positive one.
HAMIDI: It's at the hands of the government of Afghanistan to honestly implement the rule of law and to control corruption and to create a good administration ... because of that the government of Afghanistan could succeed and remove this problem but all these things go to the political will of the government of Afghanistan especially the political will of President Hamid Karzai.
Mrs Clinton earlier said Mr Karzai needs to show he's serious about pledges he's made to tackle corruption.
CLINTON: We are asking that they follow through on much of what they have previously said, including putting together a credible anti-corruption ... something that truly can deliver on the concerns that we and the people of Afghanistan have about corruption.
HEYDEMAN: Leading rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on Mr Karzai to sever his links with warlords and abusers of human rights.
Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies and Professor of Political Science at Australian National University Amin Saikal, says President Karzai faces enormous challenges as he heads into his second term.
SAIKAL: That's largely because of the deals that he has made with a number of strong man before the election and now that is pay-back time and therefore he will have to really deliver the goods that he's promised to those people and it's also many of these people who have become the subject of international criticism for not only engaging in corruption but also maladministration. But now President Karzai is going to be in a very difficult position in terms of on the one hand fulfilling the expectations of the international community and more specifically of the United States and on the other hand paying back so called warlords who have supported him during the election.
HEYDEMAN: Professor Armin Saikal says without genuine action there can't be any progress in addressing areas of security and corruption.
SAIKAL: Unless President Karzai now makes a clean break with his past practices and tries to create a cabinet, which is not composed of these powerful man who have brought the votes which in many ways have been rigged … basically dropping them from inclusion in the cabinet and trying to appoint a number of important competent technocrats in the cabinet, and also you will have to reform the political system.
HEYDEMAN: Afghan Human Rights Commissioner Mohammad Farid Hamidi agrees the President faces challenges but says he believes the road ahead could ultimately be a positive one.
HAMIDI: It's at the hands of the government of Afghanistan to honestly implement the rule of law and to control corruption and to create a good administration ... because of that the government of Afghanistan could succeed and remove this problem but all these things go to the political will of the government of Afghanistan especially the political will of President Hamid Karzai.
