Cabinet reviews member's murder

by Louis Meixler
The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Afghan government appointed two Cabinet members yesterday to investigate the killing of the aviation minister - a death Prime Minister Hamid Karzai has blamed on senior members of his administration.

The killing and reaction to it shows the sensitivity of the case, which has laid bare deep divisions within Afghanistan's interim government.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Abdul Rahman was killed at the Kabul airport last week. Witnesses said he was beaten to death by Islamic pilgrims enraged that their flights to Saudi Arabia had been delayed. Karzai blamed the killing on a feud among members of his own government.

Several of those wanted in the killing are senior members of Jamiat-e-Islami, the dominant faction in the northern alliance. There has been speculation the killing might be linked to a rift between Jamiat-e-Islami loyalists and those loyal to exiled King Mohammad Zaher Shah, who lives in Rome.

The northern alliance, backed by U.S. airstrikes, drove the Taliban from Kabul last year. Rahman had abandoned Jamiat-e-Islami after an internal dispute.

Karzai named Mir Wais Sadeq, the minister of labor and social affairs, and Abdul Khaliq Fazal, the minister of public works, to investigate the killing, Sadeq said Tuesday.

Police are also investigating the death, but the police force is dominated by members of Jamiat-e-Islami. The faction, led by former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, is dominated by Panjshiris who come from the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul.

Neither Sadeq nor Fazal are Panjshiris.

Karzai's choice of investigators apparently reflects concern the police might be influenced by their ethnic and political affiliations.

Karzai's administration also is dominated by Jamiat-e-Islami, whose members head the defense, foreign and interior ministries. Those three ministers also are from the Panjshir Valley.

Karzai has demanded the extradition from Saudi Arabia of three senior government officials in connection with the minister's death.

They are: Gen. Abdullah Jan Tawhidi, the deputy intelligence chief; Gen. Kalandar Beg, deputy of the technical office of the Defense Ministry; and a Justice Ministry official identified only as Halim.

Karzai has said two of the men are in Saudi custody but has not identified which two. Beg and Tawhidi are both from the Panjshir Valley.