KABUL, Afghanistan — For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.
But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor, and high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.
“It’s not him,” said a Western diplomat in Kabul intimately involved in the discussions. “And we gave him a lot of money.”
American officials confirmed Monday that they had given up hope that the Afghan was Mr. Mansour, or even a member of the Taliban leadership.
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On yesterday’s Rush show he recounts the story out yesterday that NATO and Afghan Officials have been negotiating in Afghanistan with who they thought was a Taliban Leader from across the border in Pakistan. They even paid the man money. The supposed Taliban Leader had even been ushered into the President’s Palace in Afghanistan to meet with President Hamid Karzai. But it turns out the man was an imposter.
Rush then moved from this story to say sarcastically, How could they possibly let this man get into the Presidential Palace without being properly vetted? “They clearly didn’t ask this guy for his birth certificate?”
“How in the world – how in the world could they trust a leader and even give money to somebody who has not been properly vetted? Ohhh – well, because it happened here in the United States, because we have an imposter – for all intents and purposes – serving in the White House.”
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The man pretending to be Mr. Mansour was given diplomatic treatment for his role in the talks, including being flown on NATO aircraft from Pakistan to Kabul and escorted to the presidential palace for three meetings.
FOX News
A man leading the Taliban side of peace talks with the Afghan government was an impersonator, an Afghan close to the negotiations said Tuesday, an embarrassing revelation for Afghan officials who have promoted reconciliation efforts as the best chance for ending the war.
Quickly moving to do damage control, President Hamid Karzai dismissed the reports as “propaganda,” saying neither he nor any other members of his government had ever met with a man named Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour — one of highest ranking members of the Taliban council leading the insurgency.
The report about the impostor first appeared in The New York Times and the Washington Post.
An Afghan familiar with the reconciliation efforts, speaking confirmed that a delegate claiming to be Mansour “was a fraud.” He spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize his contacts with both sides.
Karzai denied that anybody named Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was ever brought by NATO to Afghanistan for meetings with him and other officials.
“I did not see Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour and Mullah Mansour did not come to Afghanistan. Don’t accept this news from the foreign press regarding meetings with the elders of the Taliban because most of them are propaganda,” Karzai said.
NATO, which was reportedly deeply involved in the meetings and purportedly flew the impostor to Kabul, did not immediately comment on the reports.
Mansour, a former civil aviation minister during Taliban rule, is a senior member of the Taliban’s ruling council in the Pakistani city of Quetta. That council, or shura, is run by Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
If confirmed, the claims that he was not really involved would be a blow to the Afghan government’s push to find a political resolution to the nine-year-old war. It also raised questions about the credibility of some NATO officials who have said they facilitated contacts between Taliban figures and Afghan officials.
According to the reports, the impostor met with Afghan and NATO officials three times — including once with Karzai — before they discovered he was not Mansour. He was allegedly paid to attend.
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Wild Thing’s comment…….
God, we are so screwed.
Next time check his birth certificate….oh wait. It takes one to know One.
Both NATO and the White House thought this guy was for real.
John Bolton on The Fake Taliban Leader: “This Has to Be The Most Embarrassing Episode In American National Security Policy in Last 10 Years” Bolton: “It was a mistake to believe we could negotiate with the Taliban at all”
You can CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO.
Why would they give him a lot of money?
Reminds me of the Jordanian double agent that killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan earlier this year. These are muslims we are dealing with and none should be trusted.
The money Bob was because American diplomacy believes everything can be bought.
Gee, I wonder how our intellegence turned into a bunch of rank amateures. They keep working that appeasement angle and it cost them some money, Ok but what is scary is our lack of intellegence.
Now with the NORKs testing obama it shouldn’t be long before someone strikes somewhere in the world for real.
Bring back the Gong Show for this one… gosh, it’s an Afghan with beard and a turban who says he’s Mansour and sorta lloks like the picture we have, it must be him!
Did they grope him before putting him on the NATO airplane? Of course not; he was not an American citizen on his way to visit family. Hell, I bet they didn’t even confiscate his Gerber Multi-tool, like they did those dangerous US Military troops that Re-boarded a charter plane in Indianapolis.
Yes Chrissie, we are so screwed.
GREAT input. Thank you everyone so much.
Anonymous, Gong show sure fits how Obama and his administration do things.