KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan marked another milestone in its march to democracy, inaugurating its first popularly elected parliament in decades on Monday in an emotional ceremony that brought the country's president to tears.

U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney looked on as the assembly opened amid tight security, saying it was "a privilege to be present'' for the historical event. But concern remained over whether the legislature -- heavy with regional warlords, but also including a tapestry of westernized former refugees, women and ethnic minorities -- could be a constructive political force.

Ottawa issued a statement congratulating the new parliament on convening for the first time, saying it was a day "to reflect with pride on the remarkable progress it has made and to look with confidence to the future.''

The assembly opened after a reading from the Qur'an, the national anthem and a folksong by schoolgirls dressed in brightly coloured robes. President Hamid Karzai, while acknowledging the country's problems with poverty, corruption and terrorism, hailed parliament as a symbol of unity.

"This is an important step toward democracy,'' he said. Karzai closed his speech by tearfully declaring that Afghanistan was "again standing on its feet, after decades of war and occupation.''

Half of members of the 249-seat assembly are warlords, and many legislators lack basic experience. Some are illiterate. Still, the fact that a parliament is sitting at all is a victory for a country recovering from years of ruinous warfare and the repressive Taliban.

Afghans voted for the lower house in September, and also elected provincial councils that then chose two-thirds of the 102-seat upper chamber. Karzai appointed the remaining 34.

"The September 18, 2005, elections were a major step forward on Afghanistan's path to greater stability and peace,'' said the statement from Foreign Affairs Canada. "The opening of the first session of parliament is an important milestone in Afghanistan's democratic development -- an expression of the democratic right of the Afghan people.''

Most of the government's power is still concentrated in the hands of the president, although parliament will be able to pass laws and veto his cabinet selections.

The country has had no elected national assembly since 1973, when coups and a Soviet invasion plunged it into decades of chaos that left more than one million people dead. Civil war raged in the early 1990s, followed by the disastrous rule of the Taliban.

The inauguration of the assembly formally concludes the political transition process agreed on by Afghan factions under UN auspices in December 2001, although Afghanistan is still a long way from stability.

Some 20,000 U.S. troops are deployed here, along with thousands of NATO peacekeepers. As many as 2,000 Canadian combat troops are expected to be on the ground by March as the army joins other NATO countries in a mission to rebuild the southern region, including the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

Violence is rife in the country's south and east, where remnants of the Taliban are waging an insurgency marked by near daily killings and bombings.

The country's economy also continues to rely heavily on the trade in illicit drugs -- a threat NATO's top operational commander, U.S. Gen. James Jones, has suggested is more serious than the Taliban insurgency.

Opium production has boomed since the fall of the Taliban and Afghanistan is now the source of most of the world's heroin.

The makeup of the assembly itself has also been an issue.

"The international community will try to portray the opening of parliament as a triumph,'' said Sam Zia-Zarifi, Asia research director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch. "But many Afghans are worried about a parliament dominated by human rights abusers.''

Among those in the parliament with bloody pasts are Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful militia leader accused of war crimes by Human Rights Watch, and Abdul Salaam Rocketi, a former Taliban commander who has since reconciled with the government.

"People are concerned about the warlords, because they entered parliament by force, by guns, by money,'' said delegate Malali Joya.