Afghanistan will host a grand presidential inauguration on Monday, with former US-based academic Ashraf Ghani taking power as Nato troops end their 13-year war without defeating the fierce Taliban insurgency. Ghani succeeds President Hamid Karzai after a three-month stand-off over disputed election results that fuelled the insurgency and worsened Afghanistan's dire economic outlook.
The ceremony will mark the country's first democratic transfer of power - a benchmark seen by international donors as a key legacy of the costly military and civilian intervention since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.
Both Ghani and his poll rival Abdullah Abdullah claimed to have won the fraud-tainted June 14 election, plunging Afghanistan into a crisis that threatened to trigger nation-wide unrest. But, under heavy pressure from the US and UN, the two candidates eventually agreed to form a national unity government, and Ghani was declared president after an audit of nearly eight million ballot papers.
Abdullah will also be sworn in on Monday as chief executive, a new role similar to a prime minister, in a government structure far different to Karzai's all-powerful presidency.
Afghanistan's security problems were underlined on the eve of the event when a bomb hidden in a military vehicle exploded outside the presidential palace complex, injuring the driver.
"We made a lot of effort to bring about a long-lasting peace, but unfortunately our hopes did not fully materialise, but I should say that peace will surely come," Karzai said in an emotional farewell speech to the nation late Sunday. "I will transfer government responsibilities to the elected president tomorrow and will start my new life as a citizen of Afghanistan.
"I will strongly support the new president, the government and the constitution and will be at their service."
The schedule for inauguration day has been kept secret for security reasons, and few details have been released about the guest list, which has been put together at only a week's notice.
John Podesta, Counsellor to US President Barack Obama, will lead a 10-strong US delegation, with President Mamnoon Hussain representing Pakistan and Vice President Hamid Ansari travelling from India.
Many other countries, including Britain and France, will be represented only by their ambassadors in Kabul, while China is sending Yin Weimin, minister of human resources.
Both Ghani and Abdullah are moderate, pro-Western leaders who have vowed to push ahead with the patchy social and infrastructure progress since 2001, but the country still faces a major threat from Taliban militants.
Large-scale insurgent offensives have been launched in several provinces in recent months, with the Afghan army and police struggling to recapture lost ground.
NATO operations have scaled back rapidly and its combat mission will finish at the end of this year. Only 33 NATO bases are still active, down from a peak of 800 - leaving local security forces to battle the Taliban with less and less help.
Monday's inauguration will open the way for the new government to sign an agreement allowing 12,500 US-led troops to remain into 2015 on a mission to support and train the police and army. Ghani promised immediately to reverse Karzai's decision not to sign the deal, and the document is due to be inked on Tuesday.
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