"The assassination Tuesday of Ahmed Wali Karzai, the "King of Kandahar," is expected to rock the country's ruling elite to its core, undermine security, and create a serious power vacuum with the potential to cripple President Hamid Karzai politically in his home province.
Depending on the motivation for the killing of the president's half-brother, it may also trigger a tribal-driven power struggle between Pashtuns in Kandahar and Helmand provinces as they seek to replace Mr. Karzai and scramble to seize control of his vast political and commercial empire.
At the very least, the assassination will sow uncertainty in Afghanistan, just as U.S. and NATO military strategists were drawing up plans to move troops from the south to confront the Taliban along the border with Pakistan in the east. That military campaign, possibly the last of a 10 year old war, may now be postponed indefinitely.
"Wali Karzai was one of these rather shadowy figures who pulled a lot of strings in the background in terms of political control, the appointments of people, the drug trade, contracts and all sorts of things," said Mr. Delvoie. "His disappearance from the scene will leave an awful lot of loose ends.
"He was pretty notorious for his corrupt practices, selling and buying contracts. He is widely suspected of having a finger in the drug trade. But he was one of those essential guys to have around as a fixer and a helper for the western forces trying to carry out their mandate."
Mr. Karzai fronted a clique of oligarchs and warlords who exploited Afghanistan for their own interests. He was widely condemned for administering a corrupt regime that protected narcotics traffickers and reaped huge profits by facilitating opium shipments through southern Afghanistan.
But he worked both sides of the street and made himself indispensable to NATO'.............READ MORE
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