Son of chief, new leader comes from a powerful tribe

KABUL, Afghanistan -- His father was a tribal chief and his clan is linked to the dynasty that ruled Afghanistan for most of the past two centuries. Now Hamid Karzai will get his own chance to govern Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, four Afghan factions meeting in Germany agreed to a six-month interim government for Afghanistan, with Karzai its leader.

A 44-year-old tribesman from the Taliban heartland of Kandahar, Karzai was an obvious ally when the United States began military operations against Taliban rulers on Oct. 7. He slipped secretly into the country to organize resistance among Pashtuns, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group -- and his own.

The United States says Karzai was nearly captured by the Taliban, escaping only with the help of U.S. special forces who whisked him out of the country by helicopter. Karzai says he never left Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, Karzai was in southern Afghanistan, leading several thousand tribal fighters on a march toward Kandahar, the last city under Taliban control. So far, his troops have fought no major battles, relying instead on Karzai's political clout to win over local officials.

Karzai was born Dec. 24, 1957, into one of southern Afghanistan's most powerful tribes, the Popolzai. The city of Kandahar, the spiritual headquarters of the Taliban, was built in 1761 on land given to King Ahmed Shah Durrani by the Popolzai.

Karzai's father was chief of the Popolzai tribe. He was assassinated in the Pakistani city of Quetta in 1999, a slaying believed linked to Afghanistan's violent feuds. The killers have not been caught.

During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, Karzai was in Pakistan. But when Islamic insurgents took power from the pro-Moscow regime in 1992, Karzai moved back to become Afghanistan's deputy foreign minister.

When the Taliban movement formed in 1994, Karzai embraced it. However, by the time the Taliban took over in Kabul in 1996, Karzai had become disillusioned.

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