Americans Admit to Have Negotiated with an Impostor
NATO admitted today that the person representing the Taliban in the negotiations the coalition force has been facilitating for months between the Taliban and the representatives of the Afghan government was phony, representing no one but himself.
The admission comes at a time when NATO is trying to find a way to implement the provisions of the agreement reached at the summit held last week in Lisbon, Portugal, which speaks of a withdrawal from Afghanistan until 2014, if the coalition forces are capable to put the security responsibility in the hands of the Afghan security forces.
American and Afghan officials received and treated with respect a man thought to be a Taliban leader but he proved in the end to be an impostor who was impersonating Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour.
Two American officials confirmed that the man was paid to meet the Afghan government representatives and the NATO officials.
According to the Washington Post, the man was identified as a shopkeeper from Quetta, Pakistan.
According to some anonymous U.S. sources the NATO officials never trusted the man; in fact, some say he was seen as suspect almost immediately.
It is said that the impostor was suspicious and a little shorter than he was expected to be.
This incident comes at almost a year after CIA recruited someone who detonated a bomb in one of the agency’s buildings.
What is yet to be determined is whether the man was acting alone or as part of some organization, most likely Taliban. Another theory is that he might have been infiltrated by the Pakistani services.
The first hint to this incident has been made by Richard Halbrooke, U.S. Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, who commented something on the subject in October.11
