Head of Afghan Peace Council killed in attack

The man who was tasked with trying to negotiate a political end to the war in Afghanistan has been killed.

Burhanuddin Rabbani, the head of the country’s High Peace Council, died during an attack on his home in Kabul on Tuesday evening, according to a senior police officer. He lived in the Afghan capital’s heavily guarded diplomatic enclave.

Rabbani was formerly leader of a powerful Mujahideen party during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. He served as president in the 1990s, when Mujahideen factions waged war for control of the country after the Soviet withdrawal.

The assassination comes a week after a 20-hour siege at the edge of Kabul’s diplomatic enclave.

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