For the first time in Afghanistan’s history, with Monday’s inauguration, the nation’s top leader has ceded power to a democratically elected replacement. 

Bringing an element of closure to the past decade under President Hamid Karzai, an era that was dominated by war with the Taliban and the presence of foreign troops, this year’s transfer of power has inspired hope among many Afghans that a new, better chapter is set to begin.

At his inauguration ceremony, President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai expressed gratitude to his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, and said the transition would not have been possible without his tireless efforts.

Although this year’s process so plenty of ups and downs, and teetered on the edge of ruin at times, in the end, it ended peacefully. One look at Afghan history, on the other hand, and one see transitions of power determined largely by violence, coups and assassinations.

In 1978, the head of the Peoples’ Democratic Party of Afghanistan, Nur Mohammad Taraki, overthrew the democratic government of Mohammad Sardar Daoud Khan, who was assassinated along with all his family during the bloody military coup.

In 1979, the next leader Hafizullah Amin was assassinated in another military coup and power was transferred to Babrak Karmal and his Taj Big palace in western Kabul.

In 1986, during the Soviet invasion, power was transferred through a political agreement from President Babrak Karmal to President Dr. Najibullah.

Then, in April of 1992, Mujahidin entered Kabul and took power from Dr. Najibullah. After years of civil war, in 1996, the Taliban then entered Kabul and took power.

Following the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001, power was transferred from Burhanddin Rabani to Hamid Karzai. At the time, Karzai assumed power from Rabani at an official ceremony, which marked Afghanistan’s first peaceful transition of power. A decade later, Karzai has presided over the country’s first democratic transition.

“We, the people of Afghanistan, have passed a lot of tests successfully and I, and the people of Afghanistan, express appreciation and thanks to the leadership of Hamid Karzai,” President Ghani said on Monday.

Hamid Karzai, by transferring power peacefully and democratically, cast aside the tradition of power shift by force and violence. The hope is that this year’s process marks the beginning of democracy’s institutionalization in Afghanistan.