Variations of this formula have been applied with such zeal in Kabul in recent years that seeing a wall without a bullet hole or a car from the ’80s that isn’t upside down with shrapnel holes seems like a true novelty. So, it was a true novelty on Saturday when Hamid Karzai, the interim president, and 30 cabinet members were sworn in at the Ministry of Interior building in Kabul with laudatory speeches, a marching band and even a red carpet.
“It’s the first time in the history of Afghanistan that power is being transferred peacefully based on an agreement,” said Mohammed Qanooni, the new interior minister. The day that most Afghans, and the international community, had been nervously anticipating came and went without incident. In fact, it seemed a little too normal. Some expected a former mujahedin commander, or smaller regional commanders, to spoil everything at the last minute by making unreasonable demands or an outright attack.
British Royal Marines, part of a larger international peacekeeping force that may reach 5,000 members, started arriving a couple of days before to ensure the swearing-in ceremony would be what it should be–dull speeches and crocodile smiles. “So far, it’s been surprisingly good,” said Royal Marine Chris Morris, 25, from Bravo Company, 40 Commando based in Somerset, England. “The locals are friendly. The soldiers will give you a wave and a nod.” Plainclothes policemen also blended in the morning crowd. “There’s a lot of us,” said one policeman decked out in a gray suit and brown loafers. There were also people assigned for mine security. Sardarvali Faizi, 30, a worker for the Mine-Dog Center (MDC), said he had swept the Interior Ministry grounds, along with his German shepherd partner, Dan, in recent days and found 10 or 11 unexploded rockets.
Karzai tried to send a symbolic message of reassurance to the public by showing up to the ceremony with ethnic Uzbek warlord Gen. Rashid Dostum. “The significance of this day in Afghan history will really depend on what happens in the future,” Karzai said. “If we deliver what we promise to the Afghan people this will be a great day. If we don’t deliver we’ll go to oblivion.”
Everyone seemed to be on their best behavior. Outgoing president Burhannudin Rabbani and Dostum, who fought bitterly for the control of Kabul in the early 1990s, sat only two seats apart inside the ceremonial hall. Ismael Khan, the warlord in western Afghanistan, now self-appointed governor of Herat province, was only a couple of seats away on the other side. “Our countrymen should no longer allow our unified nation to be identified and divided as north or south or by ethnic background of Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek,” Rabbani said. “We should come together through our Islamic brotherhood, cultural similarity and common history.”
The most well-received figure of the ceremony wasn’t present at all. Deceased Northern Alliance commander Ahmad Shah Masoud was memorialized in two huge painted portraits, one inside and one outside the hall. He was also given an honorary seat next to Rabbani which contained a framed portrait and flowers. Every time someone mentioned his name in passing, the audience would break out with cries of “Allah-u-Akbar.” Some men were weeping. None of the live politicians evoked such strong reactions.
