[5][6] Under pressure from his brother Hamid Karzai, Qayum decided to quit the race in March 2014 and endorse Zalmai Rassoul.
In 2008, the speaker of the parliament, Yunus Qanuni, began publishing the regular attendance tallies, and this put added pressure on Karzai to respond.
In October 2008, Qayum Karzai gave up his seat in the parliament, citing health problems as the reason he missed so many parliamentary sessions.
[13] Qayum Karzai was also reportedly involved in secret meetings to work out some sort of peace agreement with the former Taliban government.
[17] Independent investigative journalists, Afghan businessmen, and others have alleged that Qayum Karzai used questionable and heavy-handed methods in Afghanistan, especially in dealing with business rivals.
[citation needed] In 2012, shocking revelations were exposed in several major news stories where fellow Afghan associates of Qayum Karzai brought forth serious allegations about various controversial business dealings.
[19] According to journalist Michael Hughes of the Washington Examiner (18 April 2012) and Salem News: "Qayum's control of the media has reduced southern Afghanistan to a de facto totalitarian state.
Hamid Karzai’s younger half-brother, the late Ahmed Wali Karzai, once consolidated his power by acting as both the powerful chairman of Kandahar’s provincial council and by relying on a mafialike network of militias that made millions of dollars by bribing security companies that benefited from contracts escorting NATO convoys.