**Ahmad Wali Karzai was many things - warlord, drugs baron and all round loose cannon. But at least he was one of ours.
**BROTHER OF AFGHAN PRESIDENT KILLED BY BODYGUARD
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 12, 2011: His assassination in Kandahar removes an embarrassment but leaves behind an even bigger headache: how to fill the political and security vacuum left behind.
Hamid Karzai confirmed his half-brother's death in a news conference with the visiting French president Nicolas Sarkozy, saying "this is the life of the Afghan people", Al Jazeera reported.
Ahmed Wali Karzai was described many ways: opium dealer, CIA agent, tribal leader and the real power behind his maligned brother, President Hamid Karzai.
Initial reports said Wali Karzai was gunned down by a bodyguard with an AK-47 assault rifle while he entertained guests at his home.
An intelligence official said that Wali Karzai was killed by one of his guests, AFP reported.
The assassin, named as "Sardar Mohammad", was described as a village elder in Wali Karzai's home village.
"He was visiting Wali in his home. They were meeting alone in a room, and he gets his pistol and shoots him dead and other bodyguards rush to the room and kill Sardar," the official said.
He had long been Kandahar’s power broker and a crucial pillar in the web of personal alliances that his half-brother, President Hamid Karzai, relied upon to project his influence.
As a result, it is impossible to overstate his importance in the south of Afghanistan and his central role in Nato efforts to see off the Taliban in their spiritual home.
His death removed an ally in a key region just as America begins withdraw some 33,000 troops.
At one stage, though, Nato commanders hoped to persuade President Karzai to dump his half-brother, and so rid his regime of the non-stop allegations of corruption and vice emanating from the head of Kandahar’s provincial council.
In the end – like elsewhere in Afghanistan - they were forced to do a grubby deal, accepting him warts and all in return for the influence he could wield among the local Pashtun population.
“He’s the proverbial 800lb gorilla and he’s in the middle of a lot of rooms. He’s the mafia don, the family fixer, the troubleshooter,” said one Nato officer describing the pragmatic approach.
Last year, he proved himself a staunch supporter of Nato and the US, as international forces cleared the Taliban from around Kandahar.
Now, his death with only encourage the Taliban, who already have one eye on the calendar and the eventual withdrawal of Nato forces in 2014.
The timing could not be worse, just as the US begins searching for a political solution after a decade of war.
Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Pakistani analyst, said the death of an ally in such a crucial city would hugely disrupt Nato strategy.
“At the end of the day, he was very close to the president. Kandahar is hugely important and President Karzai needed someone there he could trust,” he said.
“If Kandahar cannot be controlled then the withdrawal schedule will be thrown out.”
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