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Tuesday, Jul 12, 2011 12:34 PM UTC

Afghan president’s half-brother assassinated

Ahmad Wali Karzai, a leader in Kandahar and suspected drug trafficker, was killed by a bodyguard in his home

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Topics: Afghanistan War Logs, Middle East,

Afghan president's half-brother assassinatedFILE - 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) (Credit: Associated Press)

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s half brother, a lightning rod for criticism of all that is wrong with the Afghan government, was assassinated Tuesday at his home in southern Afghanistan, an official said.

The death of Ahmed Wali Karzai was confirmed by Zalmai Ayubi, the spokesman for Kandahar province, and Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, who was head of the Kandahar provincial council, had become a political liability for the Karzai government. But the president repeatedly defended him, denouncing accusations that his brother was involved in criminal activities in the restive south.

Ahmed 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 Ahmed 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.

More Mirwais Khan.

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On July 25, 2010, the international whistle-blower WikiLeaks released more than 92,000 documents related to the Afghanistan War. WikiLeaks had given the "Kabul War Diary" documents several weeks earlier to the New York Times, the Guardian and Der Spiegel, which all released reports that same

day. As the Associated Press put it, the war logs "amount to a blow-by-blow account of six years of the Afghanistan war, including unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings as well as covert operations against Taliban figures."

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