Death of Afghan leader's brother leaves power vacuum

[Cereal Kyller]

Source: CBC News

The assassination of Ahmed Wali Karzai at his home in Kandahar Tuesday morning has rocked Afghanistan. Not only was he President Hamid Karzai's half-brother, he was also the most powerful person in the troubled southeastern province.

The president "depended on his brother to secure the south and keep it loyal to him and to deliver votes when votes were needed and support when support was needed," Central Asia expert Ahmed Rashid told CBC News during a telephone interview from Lahore, Pakistan.

Rashid is one of the best-known journalists covering the region and the author of several books, including, Taliban: The Power of Militant Islam in Afghanistan and Beyond.

His brother's death comes at a difficult time for President Karzai. He faces a political crisis in parliament, a financial crisis because the IMF has stopped handing over money and a related banking crisis, with allegations of fraud hanging over Afghanistan's two largest private banks. Wali Karzai was a founder of the larger of the two, Kabul Bank.



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/07/12/f-afghanistan-wali-karzai.html

[Alamuti Lotus]

1. alas, the drug trade will never be the same

with this move, the Taliban have taken out a major kingpin in the world heroin trade -- who just happens to be a powerful ally of the US gov't and invaluable supporter of the occupation & its quislings.

[buckrogers1965]

2. I'm sure that some other corrupt scumbag will step upto the plate.

The CIA probably already has a drug dealing thief whose hands are dripping with blood already picked out to brutalize the Afghans.