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'Good friend' kills Afghan president's half-brother

President Hamid Karzai's half brother, the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan and a lightning rod for criticism of corruption in the government, was assassinated Tuesday by a close associate.
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President Hamid Karzai's half brother, the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan and a lightning rod for criticism of corruption in the government, was assassinated Tuesday by a close associate. His death leaves a dangerous power vacuum in the south just as the government has begun peace talks with insurgents ahead of a U.S. withdrawal.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar provincial council, was shot to death while receiving guests at his home in Kandahar, the capital of the province that was the birthplace of the Taliban movement and was the site of a recent U.S.-led offensive.

Wali Karzai was shot by "a good friend" while receiving guests at his home in Kandahar, NBC News reported.

Tooryalai Wesa, the provincial governor of Kandahar, identified the assassin as Sardar Mohammad and said he was a close, "trustworthy" person who had gone to Wali Karzai's house to get him to sign some papers.

As Karzai was signing the papers, the assassin "took out a pistol and shot him with two bullets — one in the forehead and one in the chest," Wesa said. "Another patriot to the Afghan nation was martyred by the enemies of Afghanistan."

"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," President Karzai said at the start of a news conference with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy in Kabul.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message sent to NBC News' Kabul office.

Image: Hamida Karzai, Ahmad Wali Karzai
FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010 file photo Afghan President Hamid Karzai, second from right, is met by his half brother Ahmad Wali Karzai, left, in Argandab district of Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan. An Afghan official says Afghan President Hamid Karzai's half brother has been killed in southern Afghanistan. Zalmai Ayubi, the spokesman for Kandahar province, says that Ahmad Wali Karzai was shot dead on Tuesday July 12, 2011. Ahmad Wali Karzai, who was head of the Kandahar provincial council, had become a political liability for the Karzai government _ a symbol of cronyism and a lightning rod for criticism of all that is wrong with the Karzai administration. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan, file)Allauddin Khan / AP

"Today in Kandahar city, Hamid Karzai's brother was killed during the Operation al-Badr," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousif said. "We hired a person by the name of Sadar Mohammad, who was hired for this job for some time now. Ahmad Wali Karzai was punished for all his wrongdoings."

Kept the peace Wali Karzai was seen as an extension of his brother's reach in the country's volatile south and a power broker that NATO officials depended on to keep relative peace in the area, according to NBC News' Atia Abawi.

"He was the glue that kept Kandahar together," she said.

Wali Karzai, who was in his 50s and had survived several previous assassination attempts, was seen by many as a political liability for the Karzai government after a series of allegations, including that he was on the CIA payroll and involved in drug trafficking. He denied the charges. The president repeatedly challenged his accusers to show him evidence of his sibling's wrongdoing, but said nobody ever could.

Wali Karzai remained a key power broker in the south, helping shore up his family's interests in the Taliban's southern heartland, which has been the site of numerous offensives by U.S., coalition and Afghan troops to root out insurgents. Militants have retaliated by intimidating and killing local government officials or others against the Taliban.

His power came not from his position as head of the provincial council — which normally carries limited influence — but from his tribal and family connections and the fortune he accumulated.

Fear of chaos
The assassination could unleash further violence in the already restive region, Abawi said.

"The fear is that this will cause some chaos in Kandahar," she said. "Tribes that (Wali Karzai) negotiated deals with to put aside differences no longer have such a powerful figure bringing them together."

Wali Karzai's behind-the-scenes efforts to bring some members of the Taliban back into the government's fold could well founder as a result of the assassination, Abawi added.

Foreign officials saw Wali Karzai as a polarizing figure who could complicate their efforts to win over the population and supplant the Taliban by bringing improvements to the way the province is governed.

But they also recognized his huge reach and worked closely with him despite misgivings.

'Suffering'
President Karzai said the assassination reflected the pain of all Afghan people.

"In the houses of the people of Afghanistan, each of us is suffering and our hope is, God willing, to remove this suffering from the people of Afghanistan and implement peace and stability," he told journalists.

Gen. David Petraeus, the outgoing commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said the coaltion would support efforts to prosecute anyone who played a role in the assassination.

"My personal sympathy and condolences go out to President Karzai and his family during this extremely difficult time," said General David H. Petraeus, Commander, International Security Assistance Force in a statement. "President Karzai is working to create a stronger, more secure Afghanistan, and for such a tragic event to happen to someone within his own family is unfathomable."

Wali Karzai has been the reported target of multiple assassination attempts.

In May 2009, his motorcade was ambushed by insurgents firing rockets and machine guns in eastern Nangarhar province. One of his bodyguards was killed, but he was not harmed.

That attack came less than two months after four Taliban suicide bombers stormed Kandahar's provincial council office, killing 13 people in an assault that Wali Karzai said was aimed at him.

A Taliban spokesman said the attack targeted the general compound. The president's half brother had left the building a few minutes before that attack.