Ahmad Wali Karzai Assassinated: A Growing Taliban Trend?

Ahmad Wali Karzai, head of Kandahar's provincial council, was killed earlier Tuesday in his home in southern Afghanistan in an attack for which the Taliban has since claimed responsibility.

With his death, President Hamid Karzai's powerful brother now joins a long list of Afghan officials threatened, attacked or killed by the group. In the past few years, the Taliban launched a number of personal attacks on high and low ranking Afghan officials, often killing dozens of civilians in the process.

In April 2011, U.S. envoy Karl Eikenberry told Reuters he expected "that in the course of the spring and summer we could see continued suicide attacks, perhaps at a higher level then we saw last year." Eikenberry warned of more assassinations on U.S. and Afghan officials, explaining that "It seems to us now that they can't hold forces in the field and they can't fight head-on. They have shifted and they have begun now a very focused terrorist campaign."

Take a look below for an overview of some recent government officials assassinated by the Taliban. For more, checkout al Jazeera's list of assassinations here.

Comments

[muckatuck]

09:59 PM on 09/05/2011

it's never going to stop and whether we occupy the region or not there will be more war.the job of the media is merely to update the people and present ongoing conflict in such a way that people acquiesce over time.it's already happened in america and elsewhere.

[Connor Wisnom]

08:15 PM on 09/05/2011

afghanistan has been an unstable war zone for centuries. im not suggesting this or do i think its a good thing to do, but i believe the only way to solve their for good problems is to kill them all and start over. that is how hopeless the situation is over there...

[wssweeps]

05:51 PM on 09/05/2011

We solved the muslim probem once, I think it was called the Crusades. Hopefully history will repeat itself.

[Connor Wisnom]

08:13 PM on 09/05/2011

hahaha what? The Muslims massacred the Christians!! it was a suicide march every time that ended in complete disaster. when the Christians actually took the holy land for a short time they slaughtered everyone who was dressed Muslim, men, women, children, Muslims, Jews, and Christians all died by the hands of the ones who said they were the righteous. so no, we never solved the muslim problem, in fact they solved europes problem more then the other way around...

[sevnwolves]

11:08 PM on 09/05/2011

I suppose I shouldn't give you this much information concerning Europe vs. Islam....but just look up what happened to them in Austria - twice.

[belovedreborn]

02:32 PM on 09/04/2011

I've always believed only Islam can fix Islam. On the note of assassinations, everyone needs to take a look at "The Cult of The Suicide Bomber," by former middle east CIA agent Robert Baer. This guy knows his stuff, speaks Arabic and Farsi fluently, and went back to the middle east, Iran, Iraq, Gaza Israel and filmed very real people; asking them about suicide. Mom's and Dad's, leaders, captured wanna be bombers. They refuse to call it suicide, it is "martyrdom," vastly different" and to be greatly proud of. "Very important movie in understanding the thinking process of those cultures. It is one of the scariest movies around. Take a look.

[digruprguy]

12:35 PM on 09/03/2011

The only way to settle this regions problems is for the Muslims themselves to start to police the people inhabit that region. Muslims need to start turning in these people who give their faith a bad name. They have to step up and say no more ! The west cannot do it. All we are in the area are targets which none of them want. Some do allow us there to give them some sense of safety but we cannot solve their milleniums old problems. We need to train them, equip them and move out. I used to think that because we went in and destroyed their country(s) we owed them more. But they do not want more. Muslims, if they wish to be out of the conflict, have to eliminate the problems themselves. The only way they are going to be able to join the civilized world is to say that terrorism is not a solution to their problems, but a escallation of the problems. Getting rid of the tribe mentalityand dictator govermnents is a first step that can not even come until they rid themselves of their home grown terrrorists they are defeated.

[lacrosselamore]

10:08 AM on 09/03/2011

Was this the drug-dealer brother or adifferent brother?

[season555]

07:16 PM on 09/03/2011

I think he was also a drug dealer, it is the Karzai family business. How much money did we spend to put this one's brother in power.

[Cowboy9156]

02:43 AM on 09/03/2011

It is obvious by some of the comments here against all Muslims that the persons making these comments have not ever been to places such as the UAE, Bahrain, Oman or Qatar. There is a saying among Westerners that visit these places....."On one side of the Persian Gulf is so much love and the other side so much hate"......... Westerners are making these comments and they are very true. I feel very safe in any of these Muslim Countries as the local people are some of the friendliest you will ever meet.

There are Muslim Extremists that are giving the whole religion a bad reputation. Just as one bad person in a family can give his whole family a bad reputation, the same works for religious groups as well. Just because one person or more is bad, does not mean the entire group is bad.

[lacrosselamore]

10:10 AM on 09/03/2011

I agree. When I went to College, years ago, there were thousands of ME students at KU.. They were some of the nicest and hospitibale people I met. Many of them were Iranian. I can't believe they have put up with the Iottolahs for so long.

[season555]

07:18 PM on 09/03/2011

I agree with you, of all the people I have met in Mosques Afghans are the nicest. They will come up and give you a hug even if they don't speak your language.

[puffadder]

06:03 PM on 07/14/2011

Unfortunately Karzai's brother was corrupt as is Karzai, his death was probably due to the fact that he was on reneging on the sharing of loot!!
And still we cater to a corrupt government in Afghanistan under Karzai, not to mention both Pakistan and Iraq!!! It is time to pull out of these regions and let the chips fall where they may. We have no business spending billions of dollars, which we do not have, to bolster these illegitimately formed governments, feigning under the guise of democracies!!

[Michael Cimino]

03:31 PM on 07/22/2011

Talk to soldiers that are over there and actually experiencing it and shut your pie hole... The troops serving over in Afan and the other regions are making a lasting impact on the government. IF the government does not meet expectations.. the citizens will remove the government... Hence our presents..

[lacrosselamore]

10:16 AM on 09/03/2011

If the citizens had the will and/or the ability to remove their Governments are presence (and our presernts for that matter) would not be required. Afghanisan is a hopeless mess. Saving the Karzai Government from itself is a waste of lives and treasure.
And it is not our mess. The Soviets screwed the COuntry up by occuping it for 10 years, we are not helping. Unless the rest of the WOrld cares enough to send troops and finance the effort, I say F' em. We gave them a chance to elect someone decent. They eected Karzai. Let them live with their choice.

[Pleroma]

03:06 PM on 07/13/2011

A small part of the price of occupation.

[glockenspiel323]

12:46 PM on 07/13/2011

The average John Q. Muslim would probably be better off without any interference from us or anybody else.

[IcedTee63]

11:51 AM on 07/13/2011

Drug Dealer killed...

So what.

[bethel1974]

08:09 AM on 07/13/2011

Can you say outlived his usefulness?

[Namvet6871]

07:16 AM on 07/13/2011

We should do like the Aussies are doing, get rid of all muslims if they acclimate into our society!

[Fein]

10:21 AM on 07/13/2011

We should 'get rid' of all the bigots in our society.

[belovedreborn]

02:38 PM on 09/04/2011

Bigots and christian fanatics as well.

[sammyscout]

10:36 AM on 07/13/2011

We should get rid of all Faux Snooze viewers/Limbaugh heads 'if they acclimate into our society!'

[Namvet6871]

07:14 AM on 07/13/2011

This guy was only helpful to Delta Forces and BLack op guys, they let him grow his dope for Taliban info and fo other itelligence, most commanders never knew of this deal! FACT!

[Pleroma]

02:54 PM on 07/13/2011

Are you calling most commanders (of what?) stupid?

[sevnwolves]

11:11 PM on 09/05/2011

So, when did you get back from all your black ops missions in Afghanistan? Must have been recent for you to have collected all that intel.

[Chipher]

10:12 PM on 07/12/2011

...two sho.ts forehead and heart is pro.fessi.onal hit...AW.K had clearly outlived his usefulness to De.fCon just as OB.L did, another stone in the black ops pond, ripples widening, fading, gone...