Taliban Leader In Peace Talks Was An Imposter
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Negotiating with the Taliban is controversial enough, but there’s a new black eye for the U.S.-backed efforts in Afghanistan to broker an end to the violence.
A leading Taliban negotiator was actually an imposter, the New York Times reports, citing U.S. and Afghan officials.
The secret war talks between Afghan leaders and the Taliban had seemed to be progressing, thanks in part to the work of an Afghan man who claimed to be Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, a senior member of the Taliban. But that claim now appears to have no connection with reality.
“It’s not him,” one Western diplomat told the New York Times, “and we gave him a lot of money.”
Afghan and U.S. officials now have all but given up on the man being who he said he was — or even a senior Taliban leader — despite at one point getting a face-to-face meeting with President Hamid Karzai, the newspaper reports.
The report comes as bombs and gunbattles across Afghanistan have killed more than 30 insurgents, five civilians and two NATO service members in the last two days.
The two coalition troops died in a bomb strike in the south. That brings the number of NATO service members killed in Afghanistan this month to 45, including at least 38 Americans.
Meanwhile, two children were among four civilians killed in by a bomb in eastern Paktia province today. A local official says the victims were riding on a tractor when an explosion tore through the vehicle.
The highest insurgent casualties came when they attacked a police checkpoint in northern Kunduz province. A local police chief says his officers killed 17 of the attackers, while two police also died in the battle.
NATO is looking to hand over the fight against the Taliban to local police and army forces. It has spent millions training Afghan forces.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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