Jan Mohammad Khan, Top Afghan Advisor, Killed In Kabul

KABUL, July 17 (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a top advisor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a member of the country's parliament in a residential district of Kabul on Sunday, just days after the president's brother was gunned down at home, officials said.

The spokesman for Kabul's police chief said two or three armed men started a gun battle around 8 o'clock at the house of Jan Mohammad Khan, a former governor of southern Uruzgan province and close aide to the president.

"The battle between gunmen and security forces is still going on," spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said, adding that the attack began around 8.00 pm local time (1530 GMT).

Lawmaker Hashim Watanwal was also killed, said Stanekzai and Obaidullah Barekzai, a member of parliament from Uruzgan province who had seen the bodies of both men being brought out.

Hours after the attack began, gunfire could still be heard in western Karte Seh district, home to the country's parliament, many Afghan politicians and media and some embassies.

There was a heavy presence of security troops in the area and the streets leading to Khan's home were cordoned off.

The attack came on the day that Afghanistan began a long-promised transition to control of its own security, but the process kicked off in the relatively peaceful central province of Bamiyan, half a day's drive from Kabul.

A surge of U.S. troops has helped improve security in the south of the country over the last year, but there has been spreading insecurity in once peaceful northern areas, fiercer fighting in the east and record civilian casualties.

The first half of this year was the deadliest six months for civilians in the last decade of conflict, with nearly 1,500 killed, the United Nations said in a recent report.

(Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison, editing by Myra MacDonald)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[stepgro]

04:16 PM on 07/18/2011

All these Wars in the Mid-East are just proof as to why our Founding Fathers wanted us to be a mostly Isolationist nation, & not a Colonialist or Imperialist nation like Britain. Rome fell because it was spread too thin, fighting wars all across the known world, allowing it to Rot with corruption from inside, while being Sacked regularly by "barbarian" raiders. Ron Paul is the only Man who's ideals are true to the Constitution, our Founding Fathers & the Spirit of American Freedom, & who will not only stand up to the Dems, but to the Elitist, Imperialist, dare I say National Socialist members in the Republican party as well.

[stepgro]

03:19 PM on 07/18/2011

1500 citizens killed this year in Afghanistan & that is a record high. Well, that number is smaller than the number of people killed last year in & around Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the twin border-city to El Paso, Texas. We are not at war with Mexico, or even the Cartels who are the "Taliban" & "al-queda" of Southern North America, but with the Drugs they sell instead. This war hits much closer to home, is closer to home, & we (the American People) are losing badly. The media ignores the root cause of the Border / Drug War, which is Drug Prohibition itself, to focus on Medieval Middle-Eastern Nomadic Desert wanderers. Who cares about these crappy 'Stan countries? We have real problems & issues HERE, that will destroy us way before some rag-tag band of Sand-bandits futily vowing "death to America".

[Roy Rudy]

02:59 PM on 07/18/2011

President Hamid Karzai last week re-institutionalized Islamic Law applied to extravagance and size of weddings and placing caps on costs of weddings and the maximum allowable worth of a wedding gift. Karzai is making new enemies amongst his own Afghan citizens. Clearly Karzai is back paddling from a democratic transition and may be a source of targeted assassinations from various sources. Karzai is extremely corrupt and makes under the table deals with the Taliban and sources of suspected illegal trade with other countries. Tribal extremists from Tribal regions within Pakistan have been involved with past assassination attacks and may be responsible for the assassinations of former Governor Jan Mohammad Khan and lawmaker Hashim Watanwal. Identification of the assailants will aid in determining whom this attack was assossiated with and planned from.

[JEFFDUBE]

09:55 AM on 07/18/2011

Obama's rage has far reaching effects on peoples lives. His childish behavior will bring Americans down. When will Americans wake up and see the blood of Americans on this man's hands. When we use the assassination of our enemy leaders as approved techniques of "war" their supporters responses will soon be felt and now is beginning to come. God help us. Now, not just the soldiers will pay the price. Lock the White House Mr. Obama, now your family will be a target because of your mad choices and threats to kill others even Americans.

[stephendelong1]

09:47 AM on 07/18/2011

They seem to be sorting it out.

[rtutbucks]

09:29 AM on 07/18/2011

this is obama's war now

[Gaylord P Farqua]

09:00 AM on 07/18/2011

Previews of coming attractions. Karzai needs to concentrate on getting the last pallet loads on hundred dollar bills on a plane to Europe and then fake an illness that can get him there as well. If we speed up our withdrawal to say immediate the tribal leaders will stand a better chance of organizing a resistance to a complete takeover by the Taliban. They can arm themselves and be in a better negotiating position to return Afghanistan to whatever it was before we stuck our nose in it to catch bin Laden (who wasn't even there). The Taliban will continue to pick off Karzai's guys in the hope that we dally in getting out and give them the time to be ready to swoop in and take over. Let's help out the little guys and leave....

[stepgro]

03:25 PM on 07/18/2011

Probably...total waste of life, time & tax dollars. We the People need to focus on America before we get pulled into the Abyss along with all these other countries.

[uwilnotgtridofme]

08:57 AM on 07/18/2011

I got a feeling that after we pull our troops out we will be right back over there . The surge was working .

[gposner29]

08:41 AM on 07/18/2011

Imbeciles...Afghan police remind us of the Keystone Cops & 3 Stooges combined...Useless..stop sending federal dollars to them.

[gunfighter2]

08:33 AM on 07/18/2011

Anyone want to bet the pullout scheduled will not happen or get delayed to a another date, say sometime in 2016 or beyond that?

[MissFish]

08:18 AM on 07/18/2011

From the 7th to the 11th Century, Arab Muslims fought to run out the every other religion/people in the country, in order to claim land as their own. They did not stop - for FOUR CENTURIES! How dumb were we - first Carter, then Regan - to think we could change (control) the Afgans? What good came of "us" (and Saudi) fighting the Russians, via the Afgans? Tell me again, why are we there? Oil? Sorry Charlie (Wilson) We have our own.

[Steven Francisco]

07:47 AM on 07/18/2011

Another one bites the dust

[Patrick Rodgers]

07:26 AM on 07/18/2011

One might wonder if perhaps there is a struggle going on in Afghanistan for control of the narcotics trade. Karzi was the top dog and was taken out. Could Khan have been behind the elimination of Karzi and been removed in retaliation. With the vast amounts of wealth changing hands in Afghanistan the old addage, "Crime doesn't pay," is a misnomer. Ok, who is up net to bat and will they tip the scales and survive, or have an early appointment with Allah? Meanwhile, Americans are giving up their lives and body parts in this third world arm pit and for what? Mr. President, bring all the troops home now and let the Afghanistan people battle it out for their own future.

[stepgro]

03:57 PM on 07/18/2011

Since 2001, when we went in to get OBL, 90% of the entire World's Heroin is supplied by Afghanistan. The Taliban had reportedly wiped out the much of the Heroin trade. There was a Dateline NBC report about Pat Tillman, the NFL player who chose to Serve instead of play football after 9/11, who was killed in action under controversial & mysterious circumstances. The program interviewed several witnesses who testified that Tillman, as well as others had been killed for threatening to report that certain ranking officers were involved in protection & opperation of large poppy fields (opium/heroin is derived from poppy plants) & the transportation & distribution of the drugs, across the World including U.S. & another witness who's officer husband was murdered mysteriously in his own Hum-V, says her investigations led her to believe this went all the way to Senators & high-ups in the Federal Gov't.

[1differentdrummer]

05:33 AM on 07/18/2011

We need another surge, don't we? If we enlist all of the unemployed we'd have enough troops to police the world. Maybe we should draft them instead. It's cheaper. Declare victory and come home.

[Namvet6871]

07:45 AM on 07/18/2011

Well said LOL

[ccurt78]

05:29 AM on 07/18/2011

It would appear the taliban,alkida do not want us to leave it would cut their flow of revenue.