Ashraf Ghani has been sworn is as the new president of Afghanistan in a lavish ceremony at the presidential palace in Kabul, ending months of turmoil over a fraud tainted election.

The former finance minister was inaugurated in a grand event on Monday marking the country's first democratic transfer of power since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

"I am not better than anyone from among you. If I do any good, give me your support. If I go wrong, set me right,'' Ghani said.

Ghani knows it won't be an easy road with his presidency hinging on the success of the economy and security."

Ghani succeeds Hamid Karzai after a three-month standoff over disputed election results that fuelled tensions with local leaders and worsened Afghanistan's dire economic outlook.

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 nationwide 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.

Moments after Ghani took the oath, Abdullah was sworn in as chief executive, a new role with powers similar to those of a prime minister that was created to break the election deadlock.