KABUL, July 8: Afghanistan appealed to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Monday to help investigate the slaying of one of the country’s top leaders as officials admitted they had no idea why he was assassinated.

A dozen people detained in connection with Saturday’s murder of Vice-President and Public Works Minister Haji Abdul Qadir will be handed over to the Turkish-led force, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai said.

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 centre and eliminate warlordism after almost 23 years of war.

Interior ministry and intelligence officials will be asked to cooperate with ISAF, the multinational force deployed to police the capital after the Taliban were ousted last year.

The decision came during Monday’s cabinet meeting, chief spokesman Sayed Fazl Akbar said.

“The intention is to have a completely neutral, fair, quick and professional investigation for prompt identification of the culprits,” he said. The ISAF said it would respond on Tuesday.

Earlier, an Afghan government official said authorities so far had no idea who had gunned down Qadir on his first day at work, but they had detained 12 people, including 10 security guards on duty at the time.

“We have not found any concrete evidence to show who was responsible,” said the official. “None of the 12 has confessed to anything.”

Qadir, a Pakhtoon, was a typical Afghan warlord leader — a successful businessman with a regional powerbase, strong rural support and an intuitive feel for telling which way the political winds were blowing.

Karzai said on Sunday that the assassination would be fully investigated and he would call on experts from abroad to help if needed.

But ordinary Afghans expressed scepticism on Monday that anything would be done — particularly as officials were no nearer solving the very public assassination of tourism minister Dr Abdul Rehman at Kabul airport in February.—Reuters