Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that he has asked the Interior Ministry to investigate the slaying of a young relative in a possible revenge killing connected to a family feud.

The October killing of 18-year-old Waheed Karzai in southern Afghanistan had apparently attracted little attention in Afghanistan before it was reported this week by the New York Times, but Karzai was asked about it during a news conference with the visiting NATO chief. The report raised questions about whether Karzai's administration was trying to downplay the killing and whether powerful families could escape investigation, a sensitive issue amid rising concerns about corruption and impunity in Karzai's government.

Waheed Karzai was shot to death in October in Karz, the president's hometown in Kandahar province. He was the son of the president's cousin, Yar Mohammad Karzai. The Times quoted relatives as saying they believed another cousin, Hashmat Karzai, shot the teenager as vengeance for a so-called honor killing allegedly committed three decades ago.

The report cites relatives as saying that Yar Mohommad Karzai had killed the father of Hashmat Karzai who was also one of the president's cousins. Hashmat Karzai, in turn, reportedly denies any role in the October shooting of Waheed Karzai and suggests it was committed by drug dealers who targeted the teenager by mistake.

"Anything can be possible, so we will have to wait and investigate if the truth is this, that an accident occurred ... or there is something else going on that's more conspiratorial. We don't know," the Afghan leader said.

"Both sides have contacted me within the family," he said. "The Ministry of Interior is also investigating the issue. At this point that is all I can say."

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Zemeri Bashary, said Karzai ordered the ministry to begin investigating the killing three days ago, the same day the newspaper report was published. He said counterterrorism police and criminal investigators were assisting local officials, who began looking into the killing earlier.

Hashmat Karzai heads the Afghanistan-based Asia Security Group, which provides security for five U.S. military bases in the country.

Col. Wayne Shanks, a U.S. military spokesman, declined to comment on the feud allegations. He said Asia Security Group got the contracts because "it was judged to have the best service for the best cost."

On Tuesday, NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen pledged that operations in Afghanistan will show "new momentum" in 2010 as more troops bolster the international force.