Taliban leader in secret talks was an impostor!

[thewiseguy]

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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/world/asia/23kabul.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&src=twrhp

You have to be kidding me!!!

[kenny blankenship]

1. It's like a Sit-Com: errors are piled on errors, with mistaken identities & misunderstood intentions

only lots of people get killed, the survivors are often destroyed inside, and billions of dollars are wasted every month.

[Iggo]

2. 'It's not him. And we gave him a lot of money.'

Fucking idiots.

[somone]

3. WP says he was a lowly shopkeeper from Pakistan

or a Pakistani spy

[kenny blankenship]

4. If they were smart they got a receipt from this Paki shopkeep and can use it for store credit

Tell me they remembered to get a receipt?

[somone]

6. The receipt could be fake

or he'd say you forged it...

[kenny blankenship]

7. yeah, I guess he could always say that.

Gee, looks like we're screwed coming and going.

[thewiseguy]

5. Some idiots Afghan leaders are still holding out hope that he is the real deal

Neither American nor Afghan leaders confronted the fake Mullah Mansour with their doubts about his identity. Indeed, some Afghan leaders are still holding out hopes that the man really is or at least represents Mr. Mansour — and that he will come back soon.
“Questions have been raised about him, but it’s still possible that it’s him,” said the Afghan leader who declined to be identified.


loooooooooool. Times says they knew about Mansour and a month ago Petreaus was talking up this guy and the peace talks. This is so embarrassing.