Ahmed Wali Karzai is dead. Really?

Category: Afghanistan

ahmed_wali_karzai_7_12_2011

Ahmed Wali Karzai is dead. Really?

A family confidant killed Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, inside his house in central Kandahar on Tuesday. For those of us who’ve been to Kandahar, and heard the tales of the size of shadow he cast, it’s hard to believe the ex-Chicago restaurant owner, paid C.I.A. asset — and oh yeah — the man considered to be one of the most corrupt men in Afghanistan, is actually gone.

U.S. officials as influential as the late Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke never managed to maneuver his removal as head of the Kandahar Provincial Council, where the rumors of his huge cuts from the opium game became so brazen and his hold on power so complete, he’d long come to epitomize the rottenness of the entire Karzai regime.

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The Last Rebel Stronghold

Streets of Benghazi, the last rebel strong hold are tense, as both Gaddafi and the UN prepare for a fight.

Despite string of defeats, rebels remain defiant

(A fighter carries an RPG launcher on the road outside of Brega. (Nichole Sobecki/GlobalPost)

BENGHAZI, Libya — Explosions punctured the noise of city traffic here for most of last night, but it was only fisherman. Apparently they use dynamite.
In Benghazi, at the moment, even an ordinary job appears fraught with danger.
There was an increasing volume of small arms fire overnight, but it came from celebratory AK-47 bursts. The bravado, residents here said, helps ease the uncertainty of days ahead for this city — the last remaining rebel stronghold.
News headlines have emphasized the string of rebel defeats first in Ras Lanuf, then in nearby Brega and now possibly Ajdabiya, although despite consistent shelling by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, it remains unclear who is in control there.
Rebel spokesmen offered a tour of the Ajdabiya on Wednesday, but it was cancelled because of “aerial strikes hitting Ajdabiya as of 1:25 p.m.,” said Khalid Asaya, a civilian coordinator for military affairs in Benghazi.
Some Benghazis believe that the rebels let Gaddafi forces into Ajdabiya Tuesday night in order to ambush them. Another view is that the rebels retreated from the shelling and then later advanced back.
Who controls what ground remains difficult to determine.
In Benghazi, however, with a population of almost one million and a working infrastructure — the lights and even the internet is still on — the population remains defiant.
Many here are pinning their hopes on the idea that Gaddafi won’t be able to extend his supply lines and manpower to stage an attack on a city of this size.
Read at Globalpost
© 2013 James Foley. All Rights Reserved. Website by digitaltechparis.