Ahmad Wali Karzai: A critical power broker

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai brother and one of the mostpowerful men in southern Afghanistan, was shot dead in his ownhome on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said.

Ahmad Wali, the head of Kandahar's provincial council, had survived two other assassination attempts in recent years.

He said in May 2009 that he had been ambushed on the road to Kabul by Taliban insurgents, who killed one of his bodyguards in an early morning attack.

In November 2008 he also escaped unscathed from an attack on government buildings in his home province which killed six.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had persuaded one of Karzai's bodyguards to turn on him.

The hardline insurgent group often exaggerate battlefield claims, however, and in the past have taken responsibility for attacks that security services question their role in.

Critical power broker

A half brother of the president, Ahmad Wali was a critical power-broker who helped shore up Karzai's influence in volatile southern Afghanistan.

He returned to Afghanistan after the ouster of the Taliban Government, leaving behind a career as a restaurateur in Chicago to eventually become probably the most powerful man in Kandahar.

His power came not from his position as head of the provincial council -- which normally carries limited influence-- but from his tribal and family connections and the fortune he accumulated.

He had been accused of corruption and ties to Afghanistan's huge opium trade that helps fund the Taliban-led insurgency.Ahmad Wali had denied the accusations.

Foreign officials saw Ahmad Wali as a polarizing figure who could complicate their efforts to win over the population and supplant the Taliban by bringing improvements to the way the province is governed.

But they also recognised his huge reach and worked closely with him despite misgivings.     The United Nations said in a recent quarterly report that over half of all assassinations across Afghanistan since March were in Kandahar.