Video footage from Jalalabad showed hundreds of Afghan security forces fanning out across the city, where shops were closed.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother, a lightning rod for criticism of all that is wrong with the Afghan government, was assassinated at his home in southern Afghanistan today, an official said.

The shadow of al-Qaida fell across Afghanistan after Osama bin Laden’s top deputy called the country’s landmark elections a farce, and the US military commander here warned of more Taliban rebel attacks.

Afghanistan has again established itself as the world’s largest opium poppy producer, with growers taking advantage of a power vacuum during the US-led war and the collapse of the Taliban regime, the UN drug control agency said today.

Two gunmen firing assault rifles assassinated Afghan vice president Abdul Qadir as he was being driven from a government ministry in the capital, Kabul, today.