KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The half- brother of President Hamid Karzai was assassinated Tuesday by a trusted security official, a killing that was immediately claimed by the Taliban and deprives the United States of a controversial but powerful ally in southern Afghanistan.
Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of Kandahar’s provincial council, was meeting with tribal elders and politicians in his heavily fortified home in downtown Kandahar city when Sardar Mohammad, a longtime confidant and police commander, arrived and requested a private discussion, according to two people who were at the house at the time.
Karzai and Mohammad left for another room, the witnesses said. Soon, three gunshots rang out. Agha Lalai Destegeri, the deputy provincial council chief, rushed in to find Karzai, 48, shot in the head, chest and hand.
Karzai’s other guards entered the room and shot and killed Mohammad, officials said.
The Taliban was quick to take credit for the assassination, though it did not offer any proof that the assassin was working under its auspices.
In the months before his death, Karzai had quietly rebuilt his relationship with the United States and emerged as the most influential ally for American commanders and diplomats seeking to quell the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan.
They believe Ahmed Karzai had started to evolve this year from a self-interested strongman to a regional leader willing to take nascent steps to share power with political and tribal rivals.
His killing poses a significant setback for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.
American officials had been hoping that their rapprochement with him, and his transformation, which included a willingness to embrace a new U.S.-backed village-defense program and the reintegration of Taliban fighters, would help to cement recent improvements in security across Kandahar province.
“He had a very sophisticated and meaningful vision that pointed to what was needed politically to capitalize on the military gains,” said a civilian adviser to the U.S.-led NATO military command.
The adviser and other sources for this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment candidly about sensitive issues.
In recent months, the adviser said, Karzai had taken his leadership of the provincial council far more seriously, turning it into “a growing political center of gravity that was resolving disputes.”
He traveled to insurgent strongholds with U.S. commanders to encourage residents to support a program that is a key element of the American strategy in Afghanistan: the training of armed villagers to defend their villages. And he was largely responsible for appointing a member of the Ghilzai tribe, a traditionally disenfranchised group that has been sympathetic to the Taliban, as deputy provincial governor.
“He may have been wanting to make a lot of money before, but he seems to be wanting to make his future here, and it changed fundamentally how he’s dealing with the Afghans and us,” a U.S. military official said less than 24 hours before Karzai died.
