Ahmed Wali Karzai (Pashto: احمد ولي کرزی, Aḥmad Walī Karzay, 1961 – 12 July 2011) was an Afghan politician who served as Chairman of the Kandahar Provincial Council from 2005 until his assassination.
[11] A few days before his death, Ahmed Wali Karzai appeared on a British television programme, "Afghanistan: The Unknown Country," presented by Lyse Doucet, at his home in Kandahar, talking about public perceptions of him.
A June 2009 U.S. embassy cable alleged that much of the actual business of running the Afghan city of Kandahar "takes place out of public sight, where Ahmed Wali Karzai operates, parallel to formal government structures, through a network of political clans that use state institutions to protect and enable licit and illicit enterprises.
"[13] In addition, James Risen of The New York Times and others[4] stated that Ahmed Wali Karzai may have been involved in the Afghan opium and heroin trade.
"[14] In meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, including a 2006 session with former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ronald E. Neumann, the CIA's station chief and their British counterparts, American officials talked about the rumors in hopes that the president might move his brother out of the country, said several people who took part in or were briefed on the talks.
[14] Ahmed Wali Karzai dismissed the allegations as politically motivated attacks by longtime rival groups in his country.
It also stated that he was paid for allowing the CIA and U.S. special forces to rent the former residence of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar.
"[19][20] Karzai survived a number of assassination attempts by Taliban militants[21] and at least two attacks against his office in Kandahar: one in November 2008[22] and the other in April 2009.
Thousands of people turned up for his funeral the next day, led by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and many more waited in buses where his body lay to be taken to his hometown of Karz.
"[32] En route to the funeral Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal escaped an assassination attempt, while later in the evening two more blasts went off in Kandahar.
Though Hamid Karzai led the funeral procession, he was not present at a memorial service which was attacked by a suicide bomber killing the senior cleric of the mosque Hikmatullah Hikmat, the head of the Provincial Ulema Council, who died along with three others while 13 others were also wounded.
[32] US General David Petraeus,[34] other top NATO personnel serving in Afghanistan, officials at the White House and many world leaders condemned the assassination.
Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, head of the counter-terrorism department at the Interior Ministry, told Reuters that "It appears Ahmed Wali Karzai has been killed by one of his bodyguard, and there was nobody from outside involved.