U.S. embrace of Karzai's brother disappoints many Afghans

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U.S. embrace of Karzai's brother disappoints many Afghans
By Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspapers 32 mins ago

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — While President Barack Obama works this week to repair his battered relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai , anger over his administration's decision to embrace the Afghan leader's half-brother threatens to undermine the U.S. campaign to purge the Taliban from southern Afghanistan's largest city.

Ahmed Wali Karzai is arguably Kandahar's most polarizing figure. As southern Afghanistan's most feared kingpin, the president's half-brother and a member of the influential Pashtun Popolzai tribe, he's amassed unparalleled power.

"I hold the key to five provinces," Karzai said in an interview with McClatchy this week while taking a break from meeting with a stream of Kandahar leaders waiting to confer with him.

"I am the top person, and I deliver," Karzai said. "I am the most successful person here."

Disenchanted Afghans, however, see in America's embrace of Ahmed Wali Karzai a disturbing sign that the Obama administration isn't serious about rooting out political corruption, building a responsive government and creating a respected police force in Kandahar .

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Persistent allegations that Ahmed Wali Karzai has built a regional empire by working with major drug dealers, overseeing a feared militia, seizing land to build lucrative developments and intimidating political opponents have shaken but not eliminated international support for him.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100511/wl_mcclatchy/3501842