THE BIG NEWS OF THE DAY:

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 7 — Three years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan’s first popularly elected president, Hamid Karzai, was sworn in Tuesday in a dignified, heavily guarded ceremony attended by hundreds of Afghan and foreign guests, including Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

In a brief inaugural address, Karzai expressed his thanks to the Afghan people, who defied Taliban threats to participate in largely peaceful national elections in October, and to the United States, which led the international coalition that ousted the Islamic fundamentalist regime in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

This is an amazing accomplishment, but I suspect it won’t get the attention it deserves.