Kabul
Thousands of Afghans turned out this week to mourn Vice President Abdul Qadir, who was gunned down in his car in broad daylight. Next to President Hamid Karzai, Qadir was the most prominent ethnic Pashtun in the Tajik-dominated government, and one of the only Pashtun warlords in the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. A rich warlord and influential businessman, he had many enemies. Some locals speculated that he was killed by drug lords, others said it was the Taliban. Aid agencies said the assassination demonstrated that Afghanistan is still at the mercy of rival warlords and smugglers, and needs a strong international presence.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Moon dust has earthly elements thanks to a magnetic bridgeUnder the radar The substances could help supply a lunar base
-
World’s oldest rock art discovered in IndonesiaUnder the Radar Ancient handprint on Sulawesi cave wall suggests complexity of thought, challenging long-held belief that human intelligence erupted in Europe
-
Claude Code: the viral AI coding app making a splash in techThe Explainer Engineers and noncoders alike are helping the app go viral
