Kandahar Mayor's Killing Another Blow to U.S. Afghanistan Effort (Time.com)

An honest man in a city of thieves, Kandahar mayor Ghulam Haider Hamidi once exemplified hopes that the U.S.-led nation-building effort would leave behind a better Afghanistan. His killing by a suicide bomber on Wednesday, less than two weeks after the slaying of Kandahar's strongman provincial council chairman Ahmed Wali Karzai, underscores the declining prospects of the Western military mission there. His killing by a suicide bomber on Wednesday, less than two weeks after the slaying of Kandahar's strongman governor Mohammed Wali Karzai, underscores the declining prospects of the Western military mission there.

"More than 50 percent of the violence comes from these corrupt people, the ones who sit with you and smile," Hamidi told the Washington Post earlier this year. The former accountant had returned to Kandahar in 2007 after 30 years in the United States. Having been invited to serve as mayor by his childhood friend Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Hamidi said goodbye to the comfort of his northern Virginia home and threw himself into the maelstrom of the southern Afghan city's politics. He initiated a slew of projects - from paving roads, collecting taxes and building schools - intended to revitalize the city, and made a name for himself trying to root out graft and curb the power of local strongmen and warlords on whom he blamed Kandahar's ills. (See photos from the battle in Kandahar.)

Some of the enemies he made in the course of trying to clean up Kandahar appear to have caught up with him Wednesday. Clashes had erupted in the city Tuesday afternoon, with police accused of accidentally shooting three children as bulldozers moved in to demolish houses built illegally on government land. The following morning Hamidi met with elders who had come to protest. He heard their grievances in the corridor outside his office. Shortly before 11 a.m. a man stepped out of the crowd, took Hamidi's hand and detonated explosives hidden in his turban. The blast caught Hamidi square in the face, killing him instantly.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the hit, saying it was to avenge the children killed the previous day. But an official with Afghanistan's secret police offered a more nuanced version of events. "All those illegal houses Hamidi destroyed belonged to powerful [former] jihadi commanders living in the district," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told TIME. Hamidi had been the first person to stand up to these warlords, the official went on, turfing them off land they'd stolen from the government or the poor. "The warlords didn't like Hamidi, so they turned to the Taliban, who killed him." (See how the Taliban are unleashing a spring offensive in Afghanistan.)

It's a cynical reflection of Kandahari politics that Hamidi survived four years of an escalating Taliban insurgency only to die when he angered commanders whose personal financial interests diverged from those of the government. The episode is also a fitting illustration of Kandahar's war economy, where a murky nexus of insurgents, criminals, strongmen and government officials vie for resources, often with overlapping interests and shifting allegiances.

The killing is also the latest blow to Karzai, who has lost a string of key allies in southern Afghanistan just as NATO looks to start sending its troops home. Last week, gunmen killed Jan Mohammad Khan, a confidante and erstwhile mentor of the president, as he sat down for dinner with a parliamentarian at his villa in Kabul. On July 12, a trusted lieutenant killed Ahmed Wali Karzai, de facto ruler of Kandahar. Both of Hamidi's deputies were assassinated last year, and Kandahar's chief of police was killed in April.

Analysts believe the Taliban intent is to mirror the intensity of Nato's own campaign of 'kill/capture' raids against insurgent commanders. "Partially that has an impact in the battlefield, and partly on morale, and part is also to project a certain position of strength," says Martine van Bijlert of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a repected Kabul think-tank. (See TIME's video: "A New Season of Fighting in Afghanistan.")

But Hamidi's death has a significance beyond simply reflecting the violent, murky nature of Kandahari politics, or bolstering the Taliban narrative that no government official, no matter how close to Karzai, is safe. Hamidi had been one of the leading contenders to become Kandahar's next governor, a position that would likely convey considerable power. Close to the Karzais, but without a powerbase of his own, he would have been a conduit President Karzai could have used to project his family influence across southern Afghanistan in the absence of Ahmed Wali. Well-connected Kandaharis saw him as a serious contender for the job. His removal from the scene leaves the way open for Gul Agha Sherzai, a strongman who dispenses patronage like an old-fashioned potentate. A nominal Karzai ally, Sherzai is excepted by many observers to direct lucrative NATO contracts and revenues from all manner of formal and informal economic activity towards his own family if he gets the nod, diminishing Karzai's influence in the south.

Hamidi's death, then, is another blow to Karzai's prospects for holding Kandahar once foreign troops leave the southern crucible. But who benefits from that weakening in the long-term may be a question still in play.

See photos of the coalition raid that ended an attack on a Kabul hotel.

See photos of the fight against the Taliban.

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Kandahar mayor killed by suicide bomber, latest in wave of assassinations (The Christian Science Monitor)

By Tom A. Peter Tom A. Peter – Wed Jul 27, 2:08 pm ET

Khandahar – A suicide bomber killed the mayor of Kandahar at the municipality building on Wednesday. The most recent killing in a string of high-level assassinations, it has added to concern about leadership deficit in an area that remains fragile despite recent security gains.

The bomber entered the municipality building with a group of villagers who had come to speak with Mayor Ghulam Haider Hamidi about the demolition of homes built illegally on government land. When the mayor greeted the group, the suicide attacker detonated a bomb hidden inside his turban.

Although the government and NATO-led forces say they are making progress against the militant organization, the ability of killers to reach high-level officials in their homes and offices has shaken many Afghans’ faith in the government.

RELATED Recent string of assassinations in Afghanistan

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the assassination, calling it part of their campaign to kill government officials this summer – although it remains unclear how many of the recent murders they actually conducted.

The loss of Mr. Hamidi, who spoke with the Monitor less than 24 hours before his death, is likely to take a hard toll on southern Afghanistan. He is the third official to be murdered in Kandahar in as many months and he is remembered by many to have been one of the region’s most honest political brokers.

“I’m here to work for Kandahar City. I owe this city because I grew up here, I was educated here, I ate from here, I had good times here, and I’m here to pay back the loan to my city,” said Mr. Hamidi on Tuesday afternoon.

String of assassinationsIn April Gen. Khan Mohammad Mujahid, police chief of the province, was killed by a suicide bomber in the city’s central police compound.

Earlier this month, Ahmad Wali Karzai, one of the president’s half brothers and a prominent powerbroker in Khandahar, was shot in his home by a member of his inner circle.

The mayor’s death adds to the province’s growing leadership deficit as officials seek to fill the power void left by Ahmad Wali. There was some speculation that Hamidi would replace the current governor in an effort to make up for the loss of the president’s brother.

Who was Hamidi?Hamidi spent nearly two decades in Virginia, before returning to his native Kandahar City, the second largest city in Afghanistan and the birthplace of the Taliban. When he took on his role as mayor four and a half years ago, the office was marred by allegations of corruption.

An accountant for most of his life, Hamidi had far more in common with Western politicians than he did with many of the warlords and powerbrokers in control of large parts of Afghanistan.

“When people would complain about the mayor, we would invite him to talk directly with the people in the provincial council office. Every time he was able to convince the people and us that he was right through legal reasons and acceptable methods,” says Haji Fida Mohammad, a member of the Kandahar Provincial Council.

Still, Hamidi had a reputation as someone who was not afraid to use force.

“I am strong enough to fight with corrupt Kandahari people,” Hamidi told the Monitor.

The shoe incidentLocal pharmacist Zoudin Barak remembers watching the son of a high-level government official drive his car the wrong way down a one-way street and park it so his car completely blocked the road. Even when a police officer came to ask the driver to move, he refused. Such disputes have often ended with drivers pulling guns on the police with impunity.

When the mayor happened upon this scene without his official entourage, Mr. Barak says he seemed undeterred and asked the man to move his car. When he refused again, the mayor took off his shoe and used it to bash off the man’s side view mirror. The man then moved his car.

“In our country, when you ask people politely they won’t listen or take it seriously. They won’t do anything until you force them to,” says Barak. “When they are the sons of warlords and high-level government officials, no one can stop them from breaking the rules. The police and courts can’t take any action, so in this case I thought the mayor was very good.”

Across Kandahar, residents have similar stories of the mayor intervening to stop people from breaking the law, even when it meant risking his own safety.

Afraid of the 'land mafia'Some worry that the next Kandahar mayor won’t stand up to powerbrokers and warlords like Hamidi did.

“It will be impossible to demolish the houses of people living illegally on government land now because government officials will be afraid this land mafia will kill them like the mayor,” says Qale Khan, a tribal elder in Kandahar.

Despite Hamidi’s reputation as an honest politician, he played a controversial role with the city’s high-end Aino Mina housing development. He made other decisions that led some residents to speculate he may not be as clean as widely believed.

Still, most Kandaharis are quick to say he worked harder than any previous mayor to develop the city.

“If we had a few people like him all our problems would be solved. I didn’t feel sorry for any of the other officials who got killed, but I felt sorry for him,” says Barak.

RELATED Recent string of assassinations in Afghanistan

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