KABUL, Dec 7: Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan's first popularly elected president on Tuesday, promising to bring peace to his nation and end the economy's dependence on narcotics.

Two of the men most responsible for easing him into power, US Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, were among more than 100 foreign guests watching as Mr Karzai placed his hand on the holy Quran to take an oath of allegiance at the fortified presidential palace in Kabul.

Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld are two of the most hawkish members of President George Bush's cabinet and were key architects of the invasion that overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

"Whatever challenges may come, the people of Afghanistan can count on the friendship and support of the people of the United States," Mr Cheney said at the joint news conference.

Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld both addressed US troops earlier during a visit to Bagram air base, north of Kabul. "Our goal is not to stay here, but to come and do the job and leave it a lot better than we found it," Mr Rumsfeld said.

The 18,000-strong US-led force in Afghanistan is still hunting for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The inauguration passed off peacefully, despite threats by Taliban that they would disrupt the investiture, the culmination of Hamid Karzai's victory in Afghanistan's first democratic presidential poll on Oct 9.

"With international cooperation we can root out terrorism from Afghanistan," Mr Karzai, wearing a black lambskin hat and traditional cape, or Chapan, said in his acceptance speech.

"The relationship between terrorism and narcotics however and the threat of extremism in the region ... is a source of continued concern," he said, referring to worries over Afghanistan being the world's main supplier of heroin.

He said disarming private militias, fighting the drugs trade, stamping out corruption and forging unity among ethnic groups and tribes would be his goals in the next five years.

TIGHT SECURITY: Security was extremely tight at the palace, with large numbers of Afghan and US-led troops deployed and several key roads in Kabul closed to traffic. -Reuters