The Hindu : Qadir killing, a blow to Afghan Govt.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 07, 2002

International

International

Qadir killing, a blow to Afghan Govt.

A German soldier of the International Security Assistance Force inspects the bullet-riddled and blood-stained car of the Afghan Vice-President, Haji Abdul Qadir, in Kabul on Saturday. — AFP

KABUL July 6. Two gunmen firing Kalashnikovs assassinated the Afghan Vice-President, Abdul Qadir, today as he was being driven from a government ministry, officials said. His driver was also killed but the gunmen escaped.

The attack took place about 12:40 p.m. (local time) as Mr. Qadir was leaving by car from the Ministry of Public Works, which he also headed, according to the Interior Minister, Taj Mohammed Wardak. The gunmen, who had been hiding in the bushes, escaped in a car which sped up moments after the shooting, Abdul Raouf Dad, a police official said. After the bursts of gunfire, Mr. Qadir's vehicle went out of control and smashed into a brick wall. All 10 uniformed security guards who were on duty at the ministry were arrested because they failed to react properly, according to the Kabul police chief, Din Mohammed Jurat.

"Our family is in shock," said Mr. Qadir's younger brother, Nasarullah Baryalai. "Our family has given so many sacrifices for Afghanistan. We can't even think now who is behind this." Mr. Baryalai said the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, had already called to express his sympathy and to promise a full investigation. "He has assured us of a thorough investigation," he said. "We expect that the real killers will be found and punished."

Mr. Karzai, who went to the 400-bed Military Hospital where Mr. Qadir's body was taken, also called an emergency meeting of his Cabinet. The Interior Ministry moved quickly to set up checkpoints throughout the capital searching vehicles for the killers who fled in a white vehicle. The security of ministers and government facilities was among the primary missions of the international peacekeeping force, sent to Kabul last December when the first interim administration took office. The peacekeeping command refused to comment before it receives an official statement from the Government.

"This is a terrorist attack," the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Omar Samad, said. "But it won't stop us from making this country a safer place. The killers have to be found."

Mr. Qadir was the brother of the legendary rebel commander, Abdul Haq, who was captured and hanged by the Taliban last year after slipping into the country to organise resistance to the Islamic militia. "We have lost two brothers," said Mr. Qadir's younger brother. "Afghanistan has lost two very important figures in just one year."

Mr. Qadir, a former Mujahideen leader who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan, was one of the most influential figures in war-ravaged Afghanistan. He left his eastern power base of Jalalabad when the Taliban swept Afghanistan after emerging on the Afghan scene in late 1994. He is believed to be about 55 years of age.

Mr. Qadir took refuge in Pakistan in 1996, but soon ran into trouble with the authorities because of his anti-Taliban stand and had to leave the country. An ethnic Pashtun, he left for Germany where he lived till his return to Afghanistan to join the Northern Alliance in fighting the fundamentalist militia.

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