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| Afghanistan | |
| Karzai crowns another brother as | |
| 2011-07-14 | |
KARZ, Afghanistan: Afghan President Hamid Karzai buried his assassinated brother on Wednesday, then swiftly gave another brother a key role opened by the killing, in what could be a bid to stave off political infighting in the volatile south.
Only hours after the body was lowered into the ground, the president appointed another brother, Shah Wali Karzai, as de facto leader of the Popalzai tribe to which the Karzai family belongs. “Tribal leaders have proposed for me to replace martyred Ahmad Wali Karzai with Shah Wali Karzai as your tribal elder,” the president said to hundreds of people thronging the governor’s compound in Kandahar city after the burial. Tribal leaders stood up and raised their hands in support, a Reuters witness said. Several elders then stepped forward to place the turban of his slain brother onto Shah Wali Karzai’s head. But the relatively unknown Shah Wali Karzai, even as head of the tribe, may struggle to fill the power void created by his brother’s death. Shah Wali Karzai is a businessman and engineer by training, who travels regularly between Dubai and Kandahar. “What seems certain is that nobody can entirely replace Ahmad Wali (Karzai) in holding the south together as he did,” wrote Pakistani author and expert on Afghanistan Ahmed Rashid in the New York Times. On the list of those tipped to possibly replace Ahmad Wali Karzai as the main power-broker in Kandahar is Gul Agha Sherzai, an ally of the president, who served as Kandahar’s governor until 2004 when he was removed by the president and sent to Nangarhar. He flew down for the burial. “This is one of the saddest days for Afghan people, I came here to give my deepest condolences. He was killed in a cowardly manner, the plotters will be severely punished,” Sherzai told Reuters. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 "But I don't want to be his next favorite brother! I hardly know the guy! I don't want to die!" |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-07-14 08:45 |