Pakistani president to attend swearing-in in Afghanistan

, Sept 29: Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain would be visiting Kabul Monday to attend the swearing- in ceremony for the new

president, the foreign ministry said late Sunday.

Afghan president-elect Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai will be sworn-in Monday in the country's first-ever peaceful power transition. President Hamid Karzai, the longest serving elected president, will transfer power to the new leader, Xinhua reported.

"The President's participation in the inauguration ceremony underscores Pakistan's consistent support for peaceful democratic transition in Afghanistan."

Security was beefed up in Kabul for the swearing-in ceremony.

Some 1,400 national and international dignitaries, including more than 200 delegates from the US, China, Pakistan, India and other countries, will participate the first-ever peaceful power transition ceremony in Afghanistan, Xinhua reported.

In the light of the expected arrival of dignitaries from different parts of the world, security personnel have been deployed along the roads leading to Kabul to check all cars and vehicles entering the city. Police and other security personnel in several parts of Kabul city have been put on high alert and they are checking the cars roaming on the streets.

The swearing-in ceremony of new president has been planned for Monday during which the outgoing president Hamid Karzai transfers power to the new president Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, and thus the conflict-ridden Afghanistan experiencing the first-ever peaceful power transition in its history.

Afghanistan recently saw a power-sharing deal signed between the two presidential candidates after months of political wrangling which saw Ghani becoming the president and Abdullah Abdullah, the chief executive.

IANS