[Anamehuskeene]

By DEB RIECHMANN and RAHIM FAIEZ 05/13/12 06:45 PM ET AP

Arsala Rahmani Killed: Afghan Peace Council Member, Assassinated In Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan — A gunman in a car assassinated a former high-ranking Taliban official working to end the decade-long war in
Afghanistan, dealing a powerful blow Sunday to the fragile, U.S.-backed effort to bring peace to the country.

Arsala Rahmani, a top member of the Afghan peace council and a senator in Parliament, was killed a week before a key NATO summit and
just hours before President Hamid Karzai announced the third stage of a five-part transition that is supposed to put Afghan security forces
in control of their country by the end of 2014.

Police said an assassin with a silencer-equipped pistol shot Rahmani, who was in his 70s, as he was riding in his car in one of the capital's
most secure areas, near Kabul University. The gunman fired from a white Toyota Corolla that pulled up alongside Rahmani's vehicle at an
intersection. Rahmani's driver rushed him to a hospital, but he died on the way, police said.

Rahmani was a former deputy minister of higher education in the Taliban regime that was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. He eventually
reconciled with the government and was trying to set up formal talks with the insurgents.