Ahmed Wali Karzai, half brother of Afghan president, killed by trusted confidant

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Washington Post:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — With three rounds of pistol fire, President Hamid Karzai’s half brother was assassinated Tuesday morning in the city he dominated for years, opening a power vacuum that could destabilize Afghan politics in a region at the heart of the American war against the Taliban.

Ahmed Wali Karzai — the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan — was meeting with tribal elders and politicians in his heavily fortified home when Sardar Mohammad arrived with two weapons, one of them concealed, according to an account by a U.S. official.

Mohammad, a longtime confidant and police commander, turned over one gun to a guard to appear unarmed, then told Karzai he had important information to share. As they entered a private room, he handed Karzai a piece of paper, the U.S. official said, and as he read it, Mohammad opened fire with the second pistol. Mohammad was himself then gunned down by Karzai’s guards.

The Taliban took responsibility for Karzai’s killing, and a U.S. official confirmed that the insurgent group may have influenced Mohammad, who had commanded checkpoints in the Karzai family’s ancestral village. But others were skeptical that insurgents were to blame: Karzai, the Kandahar provincial council chief, had become for many a symbol of the venality of Afghanistan’s new ruling elite, and he had a long list of enemies from his business and political dealings.

The killing underscores the continued vulnerability of Afghan officials as the United States prepares to reduce its military presence, and likely will complicate U.S. efforts to bolster security in southern Afghanistan. Karzai — long dogged by allegations of corruption and involvement in the drug trade — recently had shown more willingness to work with the United States to defeat insurgents and strengthen the local government.
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This does not bode well...