Karzi's younger brother shot, dead...

[deziloooooo]

This has been the big news from Afganistan today..seems a trusted friend did the shooting.
His brother was claimed to be a lot of things, mostly bad, in cahoots with the Taliban in some ways, a War Lord , in the drug business, also being paid by thye CIA , as a land lord in one case, allowing CIA to have a precence in his area of control..what ever, he is no longer alive to matter much I guess.

english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/07/20117127299662659.html
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[Click on link to read article }
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Central & South Asia

Karzai's brother shot dead in Kandahar

Afghan president's half brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, who was accused of having criminal ties, shot by close associate.
12 Jul 2011 11:35



Ahmed Wali Karzai, half brother to the Afghan president and one of the most powerful men in the country, has been killed in Kandahar city by a close associate, according to government officials and a member of his security team.

"Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar provincial council, was shot dead on Tuesday morning inside his house by Sardar Mohammad, a "dear" friend who regularly visited him, according to the security source and a member of the provincial council.

A Taliban spokesman told Al Jazeera that they were behind the killing and had assigned Mohammad to carry it out a "long time" ago.

But Afghan analysts said the Taliban often claims credit for acts it may not have organised, and according to officials, Mohammad had been close to Wali Karzai for many years.

Wali Karzai was an important figure in the south. But his death "is not a sign of losing the fight in the south against the Taliban," Waheed Omer, spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, told Al Jazeera.

"This was a case of assasination and it can happen anywhere. It does not signal any deterioration of security in the south," Omer said.

Mohammad shot Wali Karzai in the stomach and chest as he emerged from a bathroom and was then shot and killed by other bodyguards, according to the security source.

Tight security

President Karzai arrived for the funeral in Kandahar under tight security, Omer confirmed to Al Jazeera.

"We know we live in a dangerous country. We know that security has to be tight all the time and the president knows [this]. He's got good secuirty and that is not a worry for the president."

Reports suggested Karzai's elite security team, the Presidential Protective Service, had been deployed to secure the city for the funeral, that was postponed to tomorrow so family members could arrive.

"The president is upset, he is still in grief, about the death of his brother. Wali was a very close brother of the president," Omer said.

Karzai betrayed little emotion as he confirmed his brother's death at a scheduled press conference earlier on Tuesday afternoon.

"My younger brother was martyred in his house today. This is the life of all Afghan people, I hope these miseries which every Afghan family faces will one day end," Karzai said.

'Illiterate' security commander

Mohammad was the commander of checkpoints in the Zakir Sharif area, where the Karzai family's paternal hometown of Karz is located, around five kilometres south of Kandahar, Zalmay Ayoubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor told Al Jazeera.




Karzai's father was assassinated in 1999 in Pakistan [AFP]

Mohammad was about 35 years old, had 150 people under his command and was "totally illiterate," Ayoubi said.

Some analysts speculated that the killing may have been the result of a personal dispute between the two men.

But Haji Ehsan, a member of the provincial council, said Mohammad was "very dear" to Wali Karzai and became a commander on his recommendaftion.

"This morning, they had spoken on the phone before [Mohammad] went to visit him," Ehsan told Al Jazeera. "This can't be a personal feud. They were too close. This is definitely a conspiracy against Ahmed Wali, it is difficult to say at this point by who."

Wali Karzai's death comes two weeks after an attack on the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, which the Taliban said was their work. Nineteen people died in that assault.

It was the second major assassination in Kandahar province in three months: In April, a suicide bomber killed provincial police chief Khan Mohammad Mujahed."

[deziloooooo]

A article and opinion on how Karzi's brother assassination may affect Karzi in his leadership in Afghanistan.
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security.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/12/whats-next-for-afghan-stability-after-ahmed-wali-karzais-death/
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How will Ahmed Wali Karzai's death affect Afghan stability?

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, was shot and killed Tuesday, gunned down by a bodyguard in Kandahar. The Taliban say the shooter was on their payroll.

CNN Sr. International Correspondent Nic Robertson weighs in on the relationship between the brothers, how much is known about him and how important he was to the United States and Afghanistan. The following is an edited transcript:

Q: How important was Ahmed Wali Karzai to the United States and to Afghanistan?

Robertson: He was hugely important to his brother, President Hamid Karzai, because really, he was his eyes and ears, his political fixer in the south of the country. So really, for President Karzai, he was a very important stabilizing and controlling figure in the south of Afghanistan, in the Kandahar region.

Certainly, there had been a lot of rumors about him, rumors that he was involved in the drug trade, rumors that he has built military forces that have helped on CIA-led operations inside Afghanistan, and he has certainly never been able to disquiet those rumors. And they have been around now for a number of years. But this is a man who it's very hard to find people in Kandahar who will say a bad word against him.

When I was there asking government officials about him just before Christmas last year, no one would say a bad word about him, which to me, at the time, felt very much like an indication that he was the real strongman in Kandahar. And really, that's the person that he was. Whether or not he was amassing illegal wealth, whether or not he was fixing sort of cronyism-type political deals, he was a real power broker there.

Q: What does that mean for Hamid Karzai, the president?

Robertson: Well, it puts him on a much weaker footing.

I think one of the things that we're going to see happening over the next couple years in Afghanistan - as all parties there realize that U.S. forces, NATO forces are going to draw down - we are going to see Afghans reverting to the sort of conflict that they were having before we got involved there, fighting for control of resources, of different interests within the country, and this could just be part of that bigger picture.

We have seen the police chief in Kandahar killed this year, for example, and Hamid Karzai's brother would certainly fit that picture as being somebody that many people want to get rid of in Afghanistan.

Q: Isn't that worrisome, though, when you've got American troops that are going to be pulling out of Afghanistan. What does this say about the Afghan people's ability to even protect themselves?

Robertson: The situation with him removed is certainly, in the short term, at least, and probably in the medium term, is a destabilized one in Kandahar. With him gone, that will leave the way open for other people to try and sort of flex their muscles, be it political, be it military. And they will try to do that in an environment where there are U.S. troops, where there are NATO troops, and those forces could bear the brunt of that instability.

He was a guy that coalition forces would rely on to sort of be involved in fixing deals. With him gone, those deals aren't going to get fixed, so you're going to have those failed deals spilling out into blood feuds, into fights on the streets, or whatever. It's going to be less stable."

[handyman2]

They say it will make things unstable. Well it has been unstable all along. Nothing new. One thing it will accomplish is that Karzi will now have to chose one side or the other. With his brother gone there will be no more fence straddling.
The question I have will Karzi now have enough control to stay in power with his main man not there to cover his back.? I for one doubt it.