[Dawn] Attackers bumped off a local government official on his way to a mosque in southern Afghanistan, authorities said Thursday, in the latest hit on a government figure.Hundreds of Afghan government officials have been killed in recent years as the Taliban pursue a sweeping liquidation campaign seeking to weaken confidence in President Hamid
Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
's administration and discourage people from joining the government.
Haji Fazel Mohammad was shot on his way to evening prayers Wednesday in the volatile district of Sangin in Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province, the governor's office said. The attackers beat feet.
Mohammad served on the local council for Sangin, which has been targeted by frequent turban attacks since US and Afghan forces regained control two years ago. The district, a one-time Taliban stronghold, acts as a regional transit hub and is a gateway to a major dam that provides electricity.
Sangin also has one of the highest concentrations of concealed bombs in Afghanistan. More than 100 British troops died there during several years of operations.
The Taliban's liquidation campaign has also hit senior figures.