Hamid Karzai has been the leader of Afghanistan for almost 13 years, since shortly after the U.S.-led invasion of the country in late 2001. He was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in office and so did not run in the May 2014 election. His successor had been due to be sworn in by September 2, but an ongoing fraud dispute between the two candidates -- Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani -- has meant Karzai has remained in office until the dispute is resolved. Karzai says he will retire, not to a mansion built on the grounds of the presidential palace but to a more modest home in Kabul, a move made, it is thought, to address fears he would continue to wield influence over Afghan politics even after he left office.
Hamid Karzai: A Presidency In Pictures

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(Seated from left) Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in 2007. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observers of the security and economic bloc.

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Karzai kisses a large copy of the Koran during his swearing-in as the country's president for another five years at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on November 19, 2009. A runoff vote with rival Abdullah Abdullah was canceled after Abdullah refused to participate, citing massive election fraud.

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Karzai accompanies U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as they arrive for a joint press conference in Kabul on October 20, 2011.

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Angry supporters of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah tear down a large portrait of Karzai before a rally in Kabul on July 8, 2014. Abdullah claimed vote fraud in the June runoff election against Ashraf Ghani. Abdullah's supporters accused Karzai of rigging the runoff in Ghani's favor.