Afghan President Hamid Karzai (C) attends the last memorial services of his slain brother Ahmad Wali Karzai in Dand district of Kandahar province on July 13, 2011
On Wednesday, beleaguered Afghan President Hamid Karzai buried his half brother Ahmed Wali Karzai in their family’s village of Karz. News agencies like AP and Reuters covered the procession of thousands of mourners that followed the weeping President Karzai under tight security. The killing of the man known well by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is not only a family tragedy for the president, it will also leave a hole in the fragile security of Southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province where he was a powerful and feared governor. Political holes mean political vacuums. In Afghanistan, power vacuums threaten the meager gains towards stability.
Political holes mean political vacuums. In Afghanistan, power vacuums threaten the meager gains towards stability.
After last month’s daring siege of the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, questions have emerged about the increasing boldness of Taliban fighting forces. While investigators continue to piece together the network that orchestrated the killing of the well-known governor of a critical province at the hand of his own confidant and police commander, Sardar Muhammad, Kabul and Washington look nervously at the remaining government of the country. CNN and Al Jazeera reported that the governor of Helmand province, Gulab Mangal, survived a roadside bomb on his way to Ahmed Karzai’s funeral.
The question facing the Kabul government and observers in the coming weeks will be whether the attack was simply the result of the hazards of the networks Ahmed Karzai operated in, or whether the Taliban is gaining ground in ways that even the most pessimistic analysts would be surprised by.
With a troop withdrawal timeline on the table for the US—and General Petraeus ending his command in mere days—what is certain is that remaining ISAF forces and President Karzai will have to act decisively and critically to hold their small gains together. In the face of bold attacks, the incoming US commander of forces in Afghanistan won’t have much room for orientation, he will be charged with keeping the withdrawal timeline on schedule and the newly trained Afghan security forces on point for a successful US departure. President Karzai on the other hand may worry about not only the danger of losing his government to the Taliban, but of losing it to a lack of confidence in him by the people of Afghanistan.