Afghan President Hamid Karzai will be inaugurated for a second five-year term on November 19 in a ceremony attended by local and foreign dignitaries, officials said today.

“The ceremony will be on November 19,” said an official in Karzai’s office on condition of anonymity.

Foreign guests will be among those invited to the event, likely to be held at the heavily guarded presidential palace in Kabul, the official said.

Defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said his ministry was preparing arrangements for Karzai’s swearing-in ceremony.

Massive fraud marring the August 20 presidential election highlighted the scale of corruption in Afghanistan’s government and has led to enormous international pressure on Karzai’s new administration to clean up graft.

The 51-year-old leader, whose ties with the West have cooled over corruption and spiralling insecurity, was declared the winner by election officials when when his challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, abandoned a run-off this month.

More than 100,000 NATO and US-led troops are helping the government battle a Taliban insurgency at its deadliest since US-led troops toppled the Islamist regime eight years ago and Karzai was swept into power.