Karzai ally lynched as Taliban violence rocks Afghanistan

[PaulaFarrell]

Karzai ally lynched as Taliban violence rocks Afghanistan
By Justin Huggler
Published: 18 July 2005
A tribal leader and ally of President Hamid Karzai has been kidnapped and hanged by the Taliban as violence in Afghanistan continues to intensify in the approach to elections planned for September.

The murder of Malik Agha Jan, a prominent tribal chief in Zabol province, in the southern Afghanistan Pashtun heartlands, is the latest in a series of killings of prominent Karzai supporters by resurgent Taliban forces.

In recent days, fighting has flared on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, with US, Afghan and Pakistani forces claiming they have killed as many as 60 Taliban insurgents and their Islamic militant allies over the past four days.

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The murder of Agha Jan is a sign of how far the situation has deteriorated in in recent months and how emboldened the Taliban have become. A vital ally of President Karzai in the battle against the resurgent Taliban, he was abducted along with his two sons, a brother and two nephews from his home on Friday.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article299867.ece

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