Bodyguard Assassinates Karzai's Brother

This ... doesn't bode well for Afghanistan. But does anything?

A bodyguard shot and killed the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai today, with the Taliban claiming responsibility for the attack in Kandahar, where Canadian soldiers wrapped up their combat mission last week. Ahmed Wali Karzai, the so-called “king of Kandahar,” was one of Hamid Karzai's closest relatives and a political heavyweight in the province despite having no official power. The Taliban claimed that the bodyguard who shot Karzai had been planted some years ago and killed the president's younger brother within the walls of his fortified compound in Kandahar. Western officials had criticized Karzai's undue influence in the province, partly because he likely profited from the massive opium trade and because of how he flaunted his access to the president.