Key advisor to Karzai killed

ELEANOR HALL: Last week it was president Hamid Karzai's influential half-brother. Now the latest strike against the Afghan leader's inner circle has killed another key adviser and a member of parliament.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul. It coincides with the handover of control of one of the more peaceful provinces to Afghan security forces.

In a moment we'll cross to Kabul for more on the implications of these attacks but first this report from Timothy McDonald.

(Sound of gunfire)

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Two men wearing suicide bomb vests and armed with guns attacked the house of Jan Mohammed Khan in Kabul. Police arrived soon after and shots could be heard for some time.

(Sound of gunfire)

Afghan MP Hasham Atanwal also died in the attack.

The president's spokesman Waheed Omar says Hamid Karzai was saddened to hear the news.

WAHEED OMAR: Jan Mohammed was a very important figure in South Afghanistan. He was a close aide to the president and somebody whom the president trusted.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: But not everyone feels the same way. Afghan author and journalist Nabi Misdaq says he was a controversial figure.

NABI MISDAQ: He was a piggish figure and he really created a lot of enemies for himself. He really was bad mouthing you know, well known people in the province and other area and you know, and this is not something which is very much appreciated in the Afghan culture.

And after he was removed as a governor, Karzai has got a habit of actually bringing all these dismissed people and surrounding himself as advisors and this man was just one of the advisors very close to Karzai.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The Taliban has already claimed responsibility for the attack.

A spokesman says the men were killed because they assisted coalition forces in carrying out night raids. NATO claims the raids have been successful in killing or capturing hundreds of Taliban fighters and mid-level commanders.

But Hamid Karzai has complained that they have aroused anger among Afghans because many people have been mistakenly targeted.

The attack comes just a week after the assassination of Hamid Karzai's half-brother, who was killed in a similar attack.

It also came as New Zealand's troops held a ceremony, which included the haka, to hand over control of Bamyan province to Afghan troops.

(Sound of New Zealanders doing the haka)

Bamyan is the province where the Taliban destroyed two massive 6th century statues of the Buddha in 2001. By Afghan standards it's now quite peaceful, although some local politicians have raised concerns about the ability of local security forces to secure the province.

But the head of the security transition in Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, is more optimistic.

ASHRAF GHANI: A country cannot move forward without having a sense of destination and the destination of assuming responsibility for security across the country by 2014 is a goal that now is crystallising our efforts, forcing us to mobilise, forcing us to prioritise and forcing us to implement.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Bamyan is the first of seven areas to see a transfer of responsibility this month.

While the country prepares for its future, a British parliamentary defence committee has issued a report criticising the UK's mission in the country to date.

The committee says that for three years British forces had to operate in Helmand province without the personnel and equipment they needed to succeed.

James Arbuthnot is the committee's chairman.

JAMES ARBUTHNOT: Yes, it must have cost lives. We can't say precisely to what extent but if you don't have overwhelming force in situations such as what was happening in 2006, then your troops will be put at risk and they were.

TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The same committee warned against any premature withdrawal of British troops. All foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

ELEANOR HALL: Timothy McDonald reporting