Karzai's brother's death.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was Wednesday to lead mourners at the funeral of his half-brother, gunned down a day earlier by his own head of security in the southern city of Kandahar.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, dogged for years by allegations of unsavoury links to the country's lucrative opium trade and private security firms, and reportedly on the payroll of the CIA, was the government's key powerbroker in the south.

Taliban attack at 5star hotel in Afganistan

Heavily armed Taliban militants stormed a top Kabul hotel, sparking a ferocious battle involving Afghan commandos and a Nato helicopter gunship that left at least 21 dead including the nine attackers.