Karzai's brother reported killed by own bodyguard

[C. Flower]

Ahmed Wali Karzai reported dead by Reuters and others.

Killed by bodyguard.

Is this the famous drug-dealing brother ?


Consequence death Ahmed Wali Karzai RT @mattaikins: Incredible. This will have seismic consequences for Kandahar's political landscape

[C. Flower]

Al arabiya is saying "wounded" in bomb attack.

[Holly]

That country is a basket case and will remain so for generations to come, not least because of the adherence of its population to Islam.

[Sam Lord]

Is this the famous drug-dealing brother ?

Well the Toronto Star described him as follows:

"Karzai was chairman of the Kandahar Provincial Council and the Mafiosi-style godfather — warlord, profiteer, narcotics majordomo — of the province, but staunchly pro-west, so key an ally that his multitude of sins were overlooked."

:)

The Taliban are delighted and are claiming responsibility. It is bad news for the coalition generally but then there is not much in Afghanistan that is good news for them.

[Sam Lord]

That country is a basket case and will remain so for generations to come, not least because of the adherence of its population to Islam.

Your highly successful USA (not a basket case at all) should missionaries instead of soldiers then ....:)

[truth.ie]

That country is a basket case and will remain so for generations to come, not least because of the adherence of its population to Islam.
Foreign interference is the reason it's a basket-case. ditto the North, which is also labelled a basket case by lazy commentators.
Do you know any Muslims personally, Holly?
The Muslims I've encountered are usually more level-headed and amicable than your average Irish person.

[truth.ie]

Seems this dead guy was indeed a major drug dealer, tribal warlord and corrupt puppet, and that the U.S turned a blind eye to his activities, as he was their guy in Kandahar.
Good strike.

[C. Flower]

Seems this dead guy was indeed a major drug dealer, tribal warlord and corrupt puppet, and that the U.S turned a blind eye to his activities, as he was their guy in Kandahar.
Good strike.

Dead, anyway. Euronews tonight didn't make any known about it - "He was known to be working for the CIA and to be a major drug dealer in opium."

[Holly]

....
The Muslims I've encountered are usually more level-headed and amicable than your average Irish person.

It is not right to unfavorably compare the Irish to the Taliban, truth.

[C. Flower]

It is not right to unfavorably compare the Irish to the Taliban, truth.

Not even David Quinn ?

[Cáthasaigh]

It is not right to unfavorably compare the Irish to the Taliban, truth.

He said Muslims, not the Taliban. Do you equate all Muslims with the Taliban?

[C. Flower]

On the CIA payroll since 2001, and major drug dealer, a lynch pin figure for the US operation in Afghanistan, the US is sweating over his killing, and that of some similar figures in the recent past.
http://www.countercurrents.org/auken130711.htm

[truth.ie]

On the CIA payroll since 2001, and major drug dealer, a lynch pin figure for the US operation in Afghanistan, the US is sweating over his killing, and that of some similar figures in the recent past.
http://www.countercurrents.org/auken130711.htm
Accoding to Wiki, his half brother Hamid was a CIA agent since the early 80's, which shows his positioning of power was part of a long term strategy of U.S interest rather than some post Sept 11th reaction.

[Sam Lord]

Ahmed Wali was apparently a dishwasher in a Chicago restaurant before the yanks put his brother into power. Then he became the King of Kandahar. The extended Karzai family have all profited enormously under US patronage.





WASHINGTON — Until recently, Taj Ayubi’s specialty was retail. Mr. Ayubi, an Afghan immigrant, ran a furniture store in Leesburg, Va., and before that, a thrift shop in Washington. But today, Mr. Ayubi’s specialty is foreign policy. He is the senior foreign affairs adviser to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai.

Among Mr. Ayubi’s qualifications for his post in Kabul are ties to President Karzai’s extended family. His sister is married to a Karzai, and her sons are now important junior members of the growing Karzai family network in Afghanistan.

In recent years, dozens of Karzai family members and close allies have taken government jobs, pursued business interests or worked as contractors to the United States government, allowing them to shape policy or financially benefit from it

[....]

Most of them lived in the United States before going to Afghanistan, leveraging the president’s position to put them at the center of a new oligarchy of powerful Afghan families.



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/world/asia/06karzai.html

I wish someone would spread a little democracy in my family's direction.

[C. Flower]

Ahmed Wali was apparently a dishwasher in a Chicago restaurant before the yanks put his brother into power. Then he became the King of Kandahar. The extended Karzai family have all profited enormously under US patronage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/world/asia/06karzai.html

I wish someone would spread a little democracy in my family's direction.

Well, as they've killed most of the politicians. I suppose they had to fake up a few "War Lords".

[C. Flower]

Ahmed Wali was apparently a dishwasher in a Chicago restaurant before the yanks put his brother into power. Then he became the King of Kandahar. The extended Karzai family have all profited enormously under US patronage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/world/asia/06karzai.html

I wish someone would spread a little democracy in my family's direction.

Don't be too sure about that.


KANDAHAR - The man who murdered President Hamid Karzai’s half brother spent years as an ally of the United States in the war against the Taliban.

The killer, Sardar Mohammad, a police commander, met on several occasions with U.S. and British military officials, shared intelligence with Americans and played a part in Afghan arrests of scores of Taliban fighters, according to three relatives interviewed on Thursday in his home near Kandahar.


Mohammad also met with U.S. and British military officials, and would be introduced to the new commanders when they rotated into Kandahar, the relatives said. Two of Mohammad’s brothers-in-law said they work as guards at a Central Intelligence Agency base in Kandahar — situated on a hillside at the former home of Taliban leader Mohammad Omar — as part of the agency-run paramilitary group called the Kandahar Strike Force.

These relatives, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mohammad was not a member of the strike force, which Karzai helped recruit to fight the Taliban, but that he shared intelligence with U.S. officials and arrested hundreds of insurgents over the years.


Warning: body shown in photo with article.
http://www.e-ariana.com/ariana/eariana.nsf/allDocs/D784053BD05DDDC2872578CE004EC47D?OpenDocument

[Griska]

He had also acted erratically in recent weeks, sleeping poorly, changing houses at night, acting suspiciously toward his men and demanding to know who they were talking to on their phones.

Ding. That was the bullsh1t detector.

[Sam Lord]

Warning: body shown in photo with article.
http://www.e-ariana.com/ariana/eariana.nsf/allDocs/D784053BD05DDDC2872578CE004EC47D?OpenDocument


Holy Smoke. They have the guys body strung up on display in a public square in Kandahar. What sort of a fiefdom is the US running there at all?

[Griska]

Holy Smoke. They have the guys body strung up on display in a public square in Kandahar. What sort of a fiefdom is the US running there at all?

Sounds roughly like the justice system in California, Sam;)

[C. Flower]

Holy Smoke. They have the guys body strung up on display in a public square in Kandahar. What sort of a fiefdom is the US running there at all?

What did you think it was ? The American dream ?

What I thought was interesting was that one dodgy government/Karzai/CIA operator killed off another and was killed in the process. Neat.

Do you think this means that the US is making space to do a deal with the Taliban ?

[Sam Lord]

What I thought was interesting was that one dodgy government/Karzai/CIA operator killed off another and was killed in the process. Neat.

Do you think this means that the US is making space to do a deal with the Taliban ?

They have been trying to do a deal for ages as far as I know.

But I don't think this had anything to do with the Yanks. It was a suicide job and you can't really pay people enough for those.

[C. Flower]

They have been trying to do a deal for ages as far as I know.

But I don't think this had anything to do with the Yanks. It was a suicide job and you can't really pay people enough for those.

Both men were paid by the Yanks - or allowed a slice of the drug trade by them.

It wasn't a suicide job. It was said that he shot AW Karzai in the head, and then police entered the room and shot him. Hmm. Would you be sure that they weren't both shot by the first cop/s to enter the room ?

[Sam Lord]

Both men were paid by the Yanks - or allowed a slice of the drug trade by them.

It wasn't a suicide job. It was said that he shot AW Karzai in the head, and then police entered the room and shot him. Hmm. Would you be sure that they weren't both shot by the first cop/s to enter the room ?

It is possible I guess that the other bodyguards just shot them both. But anything is possible, really. I tend to try and avoid conspiracy theories, however, because they are generally wrong.

If he walked in and shot Karzai in the head as is reported then it was a suicide job and he would have known that.

I think Karzai was very important to the Yanks. And the Taliban did claim responsibility.

But who knows really ...

[C. Flower]

It is possible I guess that the other bodyguards just shot them both. But anything is possible, really. I tend to try and avoid conspiracy theories, however, because they are generally wrong.

If he walked in and shot Karzai in the head as is reported then it was a suicide job and he would have known that.

I think Karzai was very important to the Yanks. And the Taliban did claim responsibility.

But who knows really ...

Now that I do agree with.

All that seems to be established is that they both died of bullet wounds and both worked for the US.

It does give an interesting glimpse into how the US does its business in Afghanistan and with whom they work. The State's biggest heroin broker was one of their own.