Half Brother of Afghan President Shot, Killed in Home

@nytimesThe New York Times

Half Brother of Afghan President Shot, Killed in Home

KABUL, Afghanistan — The powerful half brother of the Afghan President Hamid Karzai was shot dead Tuesday by a family bodyguard, according to Karzai family friends who were nearby.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the provincial council chairman for Kandahar Province — the most powerful person in the province if not all southern Afghanistan — was killed by Sardar Mohammed, a former bodyguard of his older brother Qayyoum.

The bodyguard was killed almost immediately, according to people close to Ahmed Wali Karzai, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.

The power structure in Kandahar, which is built around the Karzai family and its web of connections to powerbrokers across the south including narcotics smugglers, insurgents and others, will be shaken and a power struggle is probable as members of the Karzai family as well as leaders from other influential clans jockey for the upper hand.