 KABUL: A former Taliban commander, who was loyal to the government of President Hamid Karzai, was killed in Kabul, officials said on Saturday. Karim Qarabaghi and his nephew were killed in their car by assailants firing from a passing vehicle in the city's northern suburb on Friday, they said. "We do not know whether it (the assassination) was because of personal enmity or because he once had joined the Taliban," said Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal. Before joining the Taliban in 1996, Qarabaghi served as a military commander for ex-Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who like the Taliban remnants, is leading an insurgency against the current government and foreign forces. After the fall of the Taliban, Qarabaghi joined factions supporting US forces and stayed in Kabul, but had no government position. Qarabaghi's killing comes during a slow-paced government amnesty for rank and file Taliban fighters. |