Karzai orders investigation into cousin's slaying

Hamid Karzai

KABUL  Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that he has asked the Interior Ministry to investigate the slaying of a young relative in a possible revenge killing connected to a family feud.The October killing of 18-year-old Waheed Karzai in southern Afghanistan had apparently attracted little attention in Afghanistan before it was reported this week by the New York Times, but Karzai was asked about it during a news conference with the visiting NATO chief. The report raised questions about whether Karzai’s administration was trying to downplay the killing and whether powerful families could escape investigation, a sensitive issue amid rising concerns about corruption and impunity in Karzai’s government.

Waheed Karzai was shot to death in October in Karz, the president’s hometown in Kandahar province. He was the son of the president’s cousin, Yar Mohammad Karzai. The Times quoted relatives as saying they believed another cousin, Hashmat Karzai, shot the teenager as vengeance for a so-called honor killing allegedly committed three decades ago.

The report cites relatives as saying that Yar Mohommad Karzai had killed the father of Hashmat Karzai who was also one of the president’s cousins. Hashmat Karzai, in turn, reportedly denies any role in the October shooting of Waheed Karzai and suggests it was committed by drug dealers who targeted the teenager by mistake.

“Anything can be possible, so we will have to wait and investigate if the truth is this, that an accident occurred … or there is something else going on that’s more conspiratorial. We don’t know,” the Afghan leader said.”Both sides have contacted me within the family,” he said. “The Ministry of Interior is also investigating the issue. At this point that is all I can say.”

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Zemeri Bashary, said Karzai ordered the ministry to begin investigating the killing three days ago, the same day the newspaper report was published. He said counterterrorism police and criminal investigators were assisting local officials, who began looking into the killing earlier.

Hashmat Karzai heads the Afghanistan-based Asia Security Group, which provides security for five U.S. military bases in the country.Col. Wayne Shanks, a U.S. military spokesman, declined to comment on the feud allegations. He said Asia Security Group got the contracts because “it was judged to have the best service for the best cost.”

On Tuesday, NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen pledged that operations in Afghanistan will show “new momentum” in 2010 as more troops bolster the international force.”We will focus much more on protecting the population, protecting the roads and protecting development projects. We will train more Afghan army and Afghan police, and starting next year, they will start to take the lead where and when they are ready,” he said.The United States plans to send some 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and another 7,000 are expected from other countries.

Fogh Rasmussen pledged that foreign troops would protect the Afghan people until the country’s own security forces are able to prevent the Taliban from regaining control of the country and to root out al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.”We know that the price of inaction, the price of leaving too early would be far higher,” he said. “So we will stay the course. It is as simple as that.”

NATO, meanwhile, is seeking additional help in Afghanistan from Russia, which already has allowed supply routes from the north to supplement the main route through the Khyber Pass that had increasingly been targeted by militants. Fogh Rasmussen said that during a visit to Moscow last week, he made concrete proposals including Russian equipment for the Afghan army – most particularly helicopters – and training for pilots, police and anti-narcotics officers.”We did not conclude those discussions, and the Russians did not make any pledges during my visit,” Fogh Rasmussen said. The Soviet Union fought a disastrous 10-year war in Afghanistan before withdrawing in 1989.

Karzai reiterated his call urging the Taliban to enter negotiations, saying that foreign troops would not be needed in the country if there were peace.The Taliban has so far rejected proposals for talks, while resentment of the presence of international forces in Afghanistan appears to be rising and fueling support for the militants.

Also Tuesday, NATO reported that several militants had been killed in operations in two parts of the country. In a statement, it said several were killed Monday in Ghazni province as a joint Afghan-international force searched compounds where insurgent activity had been reported and that a joint force pursuing a Taliban commander in Kandahar province on Tuesday killed some militants. The statement did not give specific numbers or other details.

Karzai’s office said that he and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown held a telephone conversation about preparations for the international conference on Afghan security, governance and civilian engagement that is to be held in London on Jan. 28.

A U.S. service member was killed by a bomb planted in eastern Afghanistan

killed by a bomb

A U.S. service member was killed by a bomb planted in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said Sunday.The American died Saturday while on foot patrol, Sgt. Angela Eggman said. She did not provide further details.

Meanwhile, a NATO airstrike early Sunday killed six militants who were planting bombs along a road in eastern Laghman province, U.S. military spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks said.

In southern Afghanistan, about 1,000 U.S. Marines and 150 Afghan troops continued an operation to disrupt Taliban supply and communications lines in the strategic Now Zad Valley of Helmand province.

Marine spokesman Maj. William Pelletier said Sunday that clearing operations yielded a few weapons caches and troops engaged insurgents around Changowlak, just north of Now Zad, in an area known as a Taliban stronghold.

Shanks said the Now Zad push was one of many operations being carried out in Afghanistan, rather than a major offensive. “We have 22 similar operations ongoing throughout the country,” he said.

No Afghan or U.S. casualties have occurred since the operation began Friday. The Afghan Defense Ministry reported over the weekend that at least seven Taliban fighters had been killed and troops had confiscated explosives and weapons.

A total of 21 politicians and journalists who were abducted in southern Philippines

The group was abducted in Mindanai, Monday morning.The army said they were taken by people when trying to apply the Battle nomination for the upcoming local elections.Elections in the Philippines are often plagued with violence, particularly in the south where the clashes are often associated with local competition and rebellion.The Philippines will hold elections in May 2010.Registration of local and national elections will begin early next month.Jess Dureza, President Gloria Arroyo’s adviser in the matter of violations in Mindanao said, “This is the cruel massacre of civilians unparalleled in modern history”.He proposed a state of emergency was declared there.According to local reports, the group was heading for the election commission office in the Province of Maguindanao to submit documents to the Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu.

Still not clear how many people who died and who was responsible.But this murder was also unusual because it included women and journalists.At the present stage of this violence seem unrelated to the Muslim rebellion in Mindanao who want greater autonomy from central government.Power and the money seems to be the main motive.Mangudadatu reportedly will challenge local leaders Datu Andal Ampatuanfor the governor’s seat in the province of the majority Muslim Mindanao.Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Philippine military spokesman told  his party found 21 bodies, 13 women and eight men.