Peacekeepers in Afghanistan to join murder probe

Peacekeepers in the Afghan capital agreed yesterday to help the government investigate the assassination of one of the country's ministers and vice presidents and said it would step up security in the city.

"The government requested ISAF to assist in the investigation of the assassination," ISAF spokesman Col. Samet Oz told reporters. "We have accepted this request and we have already started work on this issue."

He did not elaborate on what kind of help the International Security Assistance Force would give.

Vice President and Public Works Minister Haji Abdul Qadir was shot dead in broad daylight on Saturday after his first morning in his new job as minister.

His car was sprayed with 36 bullets. Twelve people have been arrested in connection with the killing, but none is believed to have been directly responsible.

President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday the shooting would be fully investigated and he would call on experts from abroad to help if needed. The ISAF said the same day it would be happy to help in the investigation.

Karzai spokesman Sayed Fazl Akbar told Reuters earlier in the day the government had asked ISAF to help.

"The intention is to have a completely neutral, fair, quick and professional investigation for prompt identification of the culprits."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States had not received a request for assistance with the investigation. If it received one, it would consult with its "international partners" on how to help, Boucher said.

Qadir, a former anti-Soviet Mujahideen leader in eastern Afghanistan, was given a state funeral in Kabul and buried in his power base of Jalalabad on Sunday.

The only thing that was clear in the investigation was that Qadir would not have risen to the power he had without making a lot of enemies - especially within the lucrative drug trade between eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan - and those enemies would all be armed. Qadir was one of the few Pashtuns in the Northern Alliance that swept the Taliban from power last year, backed by U.S. air power, prompting speculation also that this might have been a Taliban hit.

His younger brother, Mujahideen commander Abdul Haq, was executed by the Taliban shortly after the United States launched air strikes on Afghanistan last year.

The assassination illustrates the problems facing Karzai just days after forming his ostensibly broad-based cabinet in a bid to lead the country from the center and eliminate warlordism.

"Be assured that all the troops under my command will work tirelessly in close cooperation (with the government) to take every precaution against such a terrible crime happening again," ISAF commander Maj.-Gen. Hilmi Akin Zorlu said in a statement.

He said security by all ISAF units had been stepped up and a joint commission would be established, including representatives from ISAF and the ministries of the interior and justice.

"It is vital to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice as soon as possible and ISAF will donate every resource required to achieve this," he said.

Turkey took over command of ISAF from the British last month.