Afghan leader asks peacekeepers to help find killers

Afghan leader Hamid Karzai today called on international peacekeepers to help track down the killers of a vice president murdered in the heart of the capital.

Vice President Abdul Qadir, a Cabinet minister and governor of Nangarhar province, was shot dead on Saturday by two gunmen as he left his Kabul office. The gunmen escaped.

‘‘The transitional government of Afghanistan, at today’s meeting, has decided to seek the help of the International Security Assistance Force in the investigation of the assassination,’’ said Karzai’s spokesman Sayed Fazel Akbar.

This was done ‘‘to ensure impartial, just and professional investigation so that criminals can be brought to justice as soon as possible,’’ he said.

‘‘Interior ministry and police have been ordered to fully cooperate with ISAF in the investigation.’’

The spokesman for the 19 nation peacekeeping force, Turkish Army Colonel Samet Oz, said the Afghan government’s request for assistance would be approved. Germany and the US have also offered to help.

Qadir had been a controversial figure in Afghan politics for a generation, and there was speculation the killing could have been carried out by drug barons or rival powerbrokers in his home province.

Nangarhar is a relatively wealthy province along the Pakistani border and is one of the country’s leading opium poppy-growing regions. It is also a centre of trade and smuggling.

Earlier this year, Qadir’s troops confiscated opium in the village of Ghani Khiel, the country’s largest opium market. It was widely rumoured that Qadir’s men burned only 20% of the contraband and sold the rest. Opium dealers were enraged.

Qadir had enriched himself through the trade of opium, some Afghans said.

They also said Qadir had a long-standing feud with a tribe leader in Nangarhar province, whose brothers were killed by Qadir’s men.

Afghan government officials said they were looking at all possible motives.