Even in Afghanistan, where murder and assassination have lost their power to shock, the killing of Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half-brother of President Hamid Karzai, caused a deep intake of breath. The loss of awk, as he was known, shot on July 12th at point-blank range by Mohammad Sardar, for many years his security chief, is almost bound to disrupt the task of pacifying the south of Afghanistan. But just how much is hard to judge. For awk was such a divisive figure that, in the long run, his death may solve as many problems as it creates.
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