Dennis Abrams - Hamid Karzai

On October 9, 2004, Hamid Karzai was elected president of Afghanistan, becoming the first-ever democratically elected Afghan leader. In December of that year, Karzai was officially sworn in as president, an event that indicated a new beginning for the once-unstable nation. Karzai is photographed in the capital city of Kabul as he casts his ballot in the presidential election.

Source: AP Photo/David Guttenfelder.

The use of the clichd phrase "war-torn" is, in fact, a bit of an understatement. Hamid Karzai was about to be inaugurated as the first elected president of a nation on the verge of collapse. Years of misrule, war, and chaos had helped to make Afghanistan one of the poorest nations on the planet, with up to two-thirds of the population living on less than two dollars a day. Millions of its citizens were living as refugees. Its cities had been heavily bombed. In the countryside, landmines were an ever-present danger. And all throughout the country, criminals and warlords ruled.

"Chaotic" is a good word to describe Afghanistan's recent political history. Since 1973 alone, it had seen its national leader deposed (1973), executed (1978), executed (1979), removed (1987), overthrown (1992), overthrown (1996), and finally, overthrown (2001).

Afghanistan had been invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979. This brought about a 10-year revolt by the mujahideen (often defined as "holy warriors") and forced nearly 5 million Afghans to flee their homes and become refugees in the neighboring countries of Iran and Pakistan. Following the Soviet defeat and withdrawal in 1999, six years of near-chaos followed, as various mujahideen factions, tribal groups, and warlords all fought and jockeyed for power. This turmoil led directly to the rise of the infamous Taliban.

With its promises to bring order and stability to Afghanistan, the Taliban seized power in 1996, eventually controlling up to 90 percent of the country. (The remaining 10 percent, mostly the northeast section of the country, was largely controlled by the Northern Alliance.) As soon as it took power though, the Taliban imposed its strict interpretation of Islamic law on the country, banning, among other things, television and music, children's toys, kite flying, and the Internet. The Taliban also made it illegal for women to go to school, to work, to show their ankles, to wear makeup, or even to laugh in public. In addition, the Taliban gave aid and refuge to numerous terrorist organizations, including Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

The terrorist attacks by al Qaeda against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, spelled the beginning of the end for the Taliban. U.S. and allied military action, along with the opposition forces of the Northern Alliance quickly drove the Taliban from power, leading ultimately to Hamid Karzai winning Afghanistan's first presidential elections, on October 9, 2004.

So it was that at 11:30 on the morning of December 7, 2004, Hamid Karzai entered the reception hall of the presidential palace. There he received a tumultuous standing ovation from 600 invited guests. Government officials, bearded tribal elders in traditional turbans, as well as foreign guests cheered the man whom they saw as the best hope of the Afghan nation. Karzai was accompanied into the hall by Mohammed Zahir Shah, 90 years old, the former king of Afghanistan whose ouster in 1973 had begun the nearly 30 years of unfortunate history that followed.

After placing his right hand on the holy Koran and taking the oath of office, Karzai gave his 15-minute inaugural address. Vowing to disarm regional militias, stomp out corruption, conduct fair parliamentary elections in 2005, and eliminate poppy cultivation (poppy cultivation had made Afghanistan the world's leading opium producer), Karzai went on to acknowledge the past, but also to look hopefully to the future:

Every vote that was cast in the elections was a vote for Afghanistan whether I received it or another candidate. I am confident and proud that this nation is determined to rebuild Afghanistan and build it fast; to live in security, and to stand on its own feet.

As Merajuddin Patan, the governor of Khost province said in an interview shortly before the ceremony, "This is the birth of our nation. I believe the real history of Afghanistanmodern historywill begin with this."