Afghan President’s Controversial Half-Brother Assassinated by Own Bodyguard
- Posted on July 12, 2011 at 7:27am by
Billy Hallowell
- Print »
- Email »
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (The Blaze/AP) — President Hamid Karzai’s powerful half brother, a lightning rod for criticism of deep-rooted corruption within the Afghan government, was assassinated Tuesday by a bodyguard at his home in southern Afghanistan.
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar provincial council, was shot twice – once in the head and once in the chest, according to hospital officials.
The motive of the killing has not been established, but his death served a new blow to U.S.-coalition efforts to curb violence and the government’s quest to gain control of this Taliban stronghold. CNN has more:
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assassination. A person who witnessed the killing said a member of Wali Karzai’s private security team killed him with an AK-47. The individual, who declined to be identified, said that other bodyguards quickly gunned down the assassin.
Wali Karzai, who was in his 50s, 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.
The United Nations said in a quarterly report issued June 23 that more than half of all assassinations across Afghanistan since March had been in Kandahar.
The killing came just hours before the president held a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarzoky.
“This morning my younger brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was murdered in his home,” the Afghan president said. “Such is the life of Afghanistan’s people. In the houses of the people of Afghanistan, each of us is suffering and our hope is that, God willing, to remove this suffering from the people of Afghanistan and implement peace and stability.” Last month, CBC interviewed Wali Karzai:
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the killing in a statement, calling it an “act of cowardice” and offering his condolences to the president. According to CNN, Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, did the same:
[Petraeus] offered his condolences to the Afghan president and said ISAF will help the Afghan government “bring justice” to those involved in the killing.
“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,” Petraeus said.
Ahmed Wali Karzai maneuvered through a murky, dangerous world of intelligence, Afghan politics and tribal intrigue. Members of the international community had urged the president to remove his brother from his powerful provincial position, saying that it was essential if he was to prove to the Afghan people that he was committed to good governance.
Noorolhaq Olomi, a former parliament member from Kandahar, said Wali Karzai was the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan – “more of a governor than the governor” and “everybody’s leader in the south, not just Kandahar.”
“I cannot say whether this was political or personal or some other matter,” Olomi said. “But whoever did it, it shows the weakness of this government. The president needs to change things. He needs to change himself and build a government that is real. Right now, there is no government. It’s all a fraud.”
Afghan Interior Minister Bismullah Mohammadi called Wali Karzai “a loyal and faithful servant of the people of Afghanistan.”
“This is truly a sad day for all,” he said. “Mr. Karzai will be remembered and honored for his selfless dedication and commitment to peace and stability.”
The ministry said the killing was being investigated.
Mohammad Yusuf Pashtun, a senior adviser to the president for construction, water, energy and mines, said the death will have a big impact on security in southern Afghanistan.
“My first impression is that in spite of all the negative propaganda against him he managed to be a source of stability in that area,” he said. “When it comes to bringing people together in the south, this creates a vacuum. I don’t know what will happen now, but something must be done by the local leadership.”
Rangina Hamidi, a resident of Kandahar and daughter of the city’s mayor, said Wali Karzai is survived by five children – two sons and three daughters. She says his youngest son was born about a month ago.
“It is his 1-month-old child who is never going to see his father that I cry about,” she said sobbing on the phone. “How many orphans and widows are we creating in this country?”
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 Wali Karzai’s 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 brother had left the building a few minutes before that attack.
Wali Karzai also survived a November 2008 attack on the provincial council offices while the group was inside hearing constituent complaints. A suicide bomber drove an oil tanker up to the council’s offices and blew up the vehicle, killing six people and wounding more than 40. Two members of the provincial council were wounded but Wali Karzai was unharmed.
Popular Stories
MSNBC Host Snaps in Heated Segment: ‘What in the World Is Riskier Than Being a Poor Person in America?’ 680 Comments
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 639 Comments
‘Jumah at the DNC’ Speaker: ‘Muslims Visited America Prior to Columbus’ & ‘It Was a Muslim’ Who Guided Him to the ‘New World’ 523 Comments
Obama: RNC Like Watching ‘Black-and-White TV’ Because Romney ‘Did Not Offer a Single New Idea’ 360 Comments
Have You Seen the Giant ‘Sand Obama’ Sculpture in Charlotte? 312 Comments
Faith
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 147 Comments- Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More
- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 187 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 146 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 300 Comments
Scathing New Ad Capitalizes on Rep. Ryan‘s ’Fading Obama Posters’ Remark 124 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 147 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (43)
AB5r
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 5:58pmI only came to this story because the idiotic popup would not go away so I clicked through.
Report Post »4blackhorses
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 7:22pm@ AB5R,
Take heart, my friend, one less tent wearer the world has to put up with.
Report Post »wordweaver
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 5:42pmThere is just such an overwhelming degree of wickedness within this country that I have come to the conclusion that it is very unlikely that our efforts there will have a lasting impact. I’d like to see us bring our kids home and fight the war on terrorism with technology and surgical strikes from here on.
Report Post »refuse2lose
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 5:40pmI am 100% positive that our own government had NOTHING to do with this….. thanks to this “assassination” we will now have troops there until the end of time. Pretty much what your elected officials wanted.
Report Post »EmilyC
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 5:32pmRecall that song about the pretty woman who took in the sick or injured snake and then when it was revived, it bit and poisoned her? Never trust a snake! There’s one in the white house right now too!
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 4:26pmIs Sirhan Sirhan out of jail?
Report Post »dispatcher10
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 4:04pmTo say this man was bad is one of the understatements of all time! His brother, the president of A@#$%stan will probably be next. As much as I despise the Taliban, I wish them good luck in eliminating him as well. We’ve created our own mess in Afganistan. We’ve spent billions of dollars and wasted thousands of lives to prop up a pest hole that will fall back apart the second we leave. Nation building…when will we ever learn?
Report Post »Right of Right
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 3:34pmHe should have hired Blackwater. Remind me not to use that Taliban bodyguard agency.
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:58pmThese people have a manual and it is the Quran. They have been invading countries and annihilating people and entire cultures since Mohammed went into Medina and beheaded all the male Jews there and took their women and children as booty. If you get rid of people you don’t have to deal with them, do you? That is the way they solve things. They’ve been doing it for 14 centuries now!
And they have their evil Imams egging them on.
And the dhimmi world stands by and watches them do it. And laments that they can’t do anything to stop them.
Hey, how about not financing their terror with Sharia finance and direct contributions to their Islamic totalitarian governments. We are giving money to these killers, like the Hamas. Obama gave them another $900 million! The corrupt U.N., that we mostly finance, gave money to corrupt Saddam Hussein through the Oil for Food program which he promptly distributed to terrorist groups throughout the world. Obama is now selling tanks to Egypt! Google is helping the Hamas terrorists to pinpoint Israeli civilians to kill. Their executives also helped Egypt usher in a more totalitarian government than they already had. That useful idiot, George Galloway, went to Florida and was raising money at a mosque there for the Hamas terrorists. We give billions to Pakistan who harbored America’s #1 Enemy, Osama bin Laden for how long? And it goes on and on.
Hey, maybe we should just think about not financing these savages for a start
Report Post »JRook
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 3:16pmAnd this is a country we want to loose young Americans in and waste billions of $. We really need to get out of the “war of the month” industry and begin investing in the US.
Report Post »HellPhish89
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:38pmgood.
Report Post »94ZR1
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:20pmTo anyone who believes the story of how this happened I have a bridge to sell you.
Report Post »Newsy
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:18pmThe irrational thinking of Muslims is amazing to say the least. They kill “infidels” which they say is their main goal in life, yet when they disagree with their own “brothers” they kill them too.
Their capacity for hatred is equal to or exceeds that of any ruthless dictator the world has yet known.
America has been used by these people to rebuild a country that will turn and bite the hand that feeds it. We need to pull our troops, station them on the border of Israel and tell them they can kill each other but Israel, and the western world is off limits. We need another Truman who has the guts to stand and fight and see the enemy for who they really are not the government we have that plays patsy with them.
Report Post »thx1138v2
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 2:10pmBefore you call their thinking irrational you must first understand who an infidel is. In their minds an infidel is anyone who disagrees with their Imam. It is basically a tribal society and any other tribe is comprised of infidels. Agreements between tribes are tenuous, at best, and always shifting. Who is an infidel today may not be one tomorrow and today’s ally may be an infidel tomorrow.
Once you grasp that, it becomes clear why peace cannot happen there. For any peace to occur, whoever is attempting to make the peace must bring all of the tribes together in agreement and animosities are long held there. Should peace occur, it would only last until the tribal leaders disagree once again.
Karzai knows this and is capitalizing on the situation while he can. The Taliban know this and thus this is prime territory for them – all they need to do to defeat the west (or any interloper for that matter) is stir up disagreement between the tribes. It seems the only people who don’t understand this are the leaders in Washington, D.C.
Report Post »GWBram
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 1:00pmIt seems like a great many bloggers here buy into the meme that Wali Karzai was an
Report Post »evil man. Where do they arrive at this opinion? Did they even read the article that gives
some evidence that that opinion might not be correct? We are too quick to turn on our
friends. Who will ever dare to align themselves with us if this is to become the American
way?
jordy2010
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 3:29pm@ gwbram – with ”friends” like these……….America needs no enemies……… pull all troops out of this Godforsaken country………. it’s a waste of human lives and resources……
Report Post »hacker2000
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 12:58pmThis GUY was the DON of all DRUG LORDS ,That man oversee billions of dollars in OPIUM from that country, I’m surprise he lasted this long.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/drugs-market.htm
Report Post »dmerwin
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 11:44amGood, one less “ally” to worry about.
Report Post »Tickdog
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 11:19amlol…
Report Post »Secret Squirrel
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 11:04am.
Report Post »Just another reason to GET OUT NOW.
That cesspool isn’t worth another American life.
Ten years and no progress. The people just don’t care.
Karzai has his (our) billions in a Swiss account, so he’s set.
GET OUT.
Salamander
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 9:54pmIt rains hardest just before the end of the storm!
Report Post »ISRAELISOURFRIEND
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 10:47amThis gives me hope for America!
We have DOMESTIC ENEMIES in our White House!
We have DOMESTIC ENEMIES in our Congress!
WE THE PEOPLE MUST SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES!
Report Post »Gypsy123
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 10:46amNice guy not!
Report Post »takemout
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 10:31amTurn Pah-kee-staahn into a parking lot.
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 10:02pmInteresting, when the Hindu’s kicked the Muslims out of India, what resulted was a concentrated camp of angry bees! they just struck, again, in Mumbai! Might have been better to deal with the problem internally, as it is easier to keep an eye on it! And, maybe, people of different beliefs might be able to coexist? I’m not clear that Muslims can coexist with anyone, as a basic premise of their religion is the demise of all others! Thus, we may be playing with a ticking time-bomb in our own country, to think that we can have harmony here! (Sorry, to all moderate Muslims, but you need to be more vocal if I am wrong! And you need a successful ‘reformed’ movement, to break away from the extremists!)
Report Post »romadave
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:53amHiggins finally got his wish and Magnum PI got killed. The body guards caught on to the switch and he bottomed out the Ferrari on the last speed bump leaving the embassy.
His luck finally ran out and T.C. couldn’t get airspace clearance to save his butt with the chopper yet again.
Robin Masters is gonna be pissed.
Report Post »psst
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:20amMoslems are like sands in the desert. They follow a religion founded by a child pervert.Dedicated to the destruction of the Western ways of life and the destruction of all other religions.
Report Post »Their perverted religion tells them they should kill all who will not convert to this religion
Millions are willing to die for this religion. These people prefer to live in the stone age.
Leave them alone. warn any of these Moslem countries if they support terrorists on their soil to harm US and( they) terrorist/s carry out acts of of violence against US again, we will nuke them.
Since they wish to die for their perverted religion, well, lets help them to reach their goal.
Lets be realistic,We cannot win (in the long run)in any kind of conventional war /w billions of stoneage people.BTW. If we ever totally get out of EyeRock, Eyeran will take them over.
Didn’t I say they are like sands in the desert.?
Another BTW. The Saudis are /have been playing US for suckers, even as they work behind the scenes to implement Sharia laws here.
Get away from all these people.Get out,stay out.Warn them of the consequencies(of their involvement w/ terrorists bent on bringing harm to US) and follow through if and when it happens.
Gonzo
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:07amI smell Mitch Rapp!
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 9:08amNow get to work on his brother Iron man.
Report Post »BIGJAYINPA
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:19amPretty scary when your own security detail turns on you. When you can’t trust those closest to you , who do you trust???….Just sayin’
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 9:57pmWas this the act of an aberrant citizen or, as claimed by the Taliban, a politically motivated, organized and funded assassination?
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 7:33amI’m not even going to touch this as the temptation is tooooooo great to make comparisons and contrasts.
*sigh*
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 7:30am.
One down, several Billion more to go…..
We need to get Busy………..
Report Post »muhamadhater
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:17amCouldnt agree with u more,we need 2 wipe this fake religeon called islam off the face of the earth!!!
Report Post »Death 2 Islam!! God bless all NON muslim counties!!!
Erabin
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:42amHow very christian of you, wishing for the death of good and bad people alike just because they share a religion.
Exactly like Jesus wanted.
No wait, it was Hitler. Never mind.
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on July 12, 2011 at 8:48amNice, hated, even by your own people.
Report Post »