‘Pak link seen in death of Karzai’s half brother’

Investigators are trying to determine whether the rogue police commander who murdered Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s half brother this week was a long-term Taliban sleeper agent or a recent recruit, who joined them, probably after a recent trip to Pakistan.

The reasons behind the dramatic switch that turned Sardar Mohammad against Ahmed Wali Karzai, 49, perhaps the most powerful figure in southern Afghanistan, are still not understood, The Washington Post reported Friday.

But one of Karzai’s brothers and a senior Afghan official said they were now convinced the Taliban somehow won the police officer’s allegiance in recent months and convinced him to carry out an assassination on the group’s behalf.

Mohammad was an ally of the US in the war against the Taliban, the report said, pointing out that he had played a part in Afghan arrests of scores of Taliban fighters.

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