Karzai Adviser Gunned Down

A top aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai was killed in his home by two gunmen on Sunday. Jan Mohammed Khan was governor of the Oruzgan province until his removal in 2006 over allegations of his connection to drug rings. Mohammed Hasham Watanwal, a member of the same province's Parliament, was also killed. The deaths come days after the president's influential half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, was assassinated. The Taliban has taken responsibility for all the killings, increasing fears over the militants' intentions to disrupt recent security gains in the violent south. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the group, told Reuters that Khan was killed for "[helping] the Americans and committing atrocities against the Afghan people.”