(14 May 2012) 1. Various of guard of honour outside military hospital
2. Mid of guard of honour carrying wreath with Afghan senator Arsala Rahmani's photo
3. Close of photo of Rahmani
4. Guard of honour carrying coffin
5. Close of guardsman
6. Reverse shot guard of honour carrying coffin
7. Close of relative of Rahmani
8. Coffin in rear of vehicle and guardsmen
9. Mid of guard of honour
10. Ambulance driving away from hospital
11. Wide of burial ceremony at cemetery
12. Various of burial and mourners
13. SOUNDBITE: (Dari) Nesar Haris, Afghan Senator:
"He was a famous man who didn't have enmity towards anybody, and did not follow an aggressive policy. So we can say his martyrdom is political, and that people who don't believe in peace for the Afghans, and who want war in Afghanistan, are behind his assassination."
14. Various of men filling in grave
STORYLINE:
Hundreds of Afghan officials, family members and friends attended the burial ceremony in Kabul on Monday for Arsala Rahmani, a member of the Afghan government-appointed peace council and a senator in Parliament.
Rahmani, who was active in trying to set up formal talks with insurgents, was killed by a gunman in a car on Sunday.
The killing came just 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 US-led invasion in 2001.
He eventually reconciled with the government and was trying to set up formal talks with the insurgents.
Amongst those attending the funeral was Afghan Senator Nesar Haris, who described Rahmani as "a famous man who didn't have enmity towards anybody, and did not follow an aggressive policy."
"So we can say his martyrdom is political, and that people who don't believe in peace for the Afghans, and who want war in Afghanistan, are behind his assassination," he added.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the assassination, although they had publicly threatened to target peace negotiators and others working with the government.
In September 2011, former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was head of the peace council, was assassinated in his Kabul home by a suicide bomber posing as a peace emissary from the Taliban.
The US-led coalition is trying to wind down its involvement in Afghanistan by finding a political resolution to the war and training Afghan security forces to take the lead in protecting their homeland.
But a recent rise in violence has raised concerns about the Afghan government's readiness to assume responsibility for the country's security.
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