Glass
23rd November 2010, 06:27 AM
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 repeated 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, Mansour was apparently not Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, US and Afghan officials now say that the Afghan man was an impostor and that high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.
''It's not him,'' said a Western diplomat intimately involved in the discussions. ''And we gave him a lot of money.''
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US officials confirmed on Monday that they had given up hope that the Afghan was Mansour or even a member of the Taliban leadership.
NATO and Afghan officials said they held three meetings with the man, who travelled from across the border in Pakistan, where Taliban leaders have taken refuge. The fake Taliban leader even met President Hamid Karzai, having been flown to Kabul on a NATO aircraft and ushered into the presidential palace, officials said.
The episode underscores the uncertain and even bizarre nature of the atmosphere in which Afghan and US leaders search for ways to bring the nine-year-old US-led war to an end. The leaders of the Taliban are believed to be hiding in Pakistan, possibly with the assistance of the Pakistani government, which receives billions of dollars in US aid.
Many in the Taliban leadership, which is largely made up of barely literate clerics from the countryside, had not been seen in person by US, NATO or Afghan officials.
Doubts were raised about the man claiming to be Mansour - who by some accounts is the second-ranking official in the Taliban, behind only the founder, Mullah Mohammed Omar - after the third meeting, held in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. A man who had known Mansour years ago told Afghan officials that the man at the table did not resemble him.
The Western diplomat said the Afghan man was initially given a sizeable sum of money to take part in the talks - and to help persuade him to return.
Full article..... (http://www.theage.com.au/world/taliban-impostor-stuns-us-nato-20101123-185mw.html)
Interpol says
Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1267 (1999) and successor resolutions, including resolution 1822 (2008), the Subject is under the following UN Sanctions: Freezing of Assets, Travel Ban and Arms Embargo. The Subject has the following permanent reference number on the list maintained by the UN Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee (1267 Committee) which appears in the Special Notice for this subject: TI.M.11.01
http://www.interpol.int/public/Data/NoticesUN/Notice/Data/2007/49/2007_47849.asp
• Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Mansour is the former Minister of Civil Aviation and Transportation, and former shadow governor of Kandahar who is considered to be a possible successor to Baradar.
Link..... (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/02/the_talibans_top_lea.php)
Head of Aviation - Allegedly killed in Oct 2001. No confirmation at citation link
Link..... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Taliban_leaders)
I can't find a photos for this guy.
But now, it turns out, Mansour was apparently not Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, US and Afghan officials now say that the Afghan man was an impostor and that high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.
''It's not him,'' said a Western diplomat intimately involved in the discussions. ''And we gave him a lot of money.''
Advertisement: Story continues below
US officials confirmed on Monday that they had given up hope that the Afghan was Mansour or even a member of the Taliban leadership.
NATO and Afghan officials said they held three meetings with the man, who travelled from across the border in Pakistan, where Taliban leaders have taken refuge. The fake Taliban leader even met President Hamid Karzai, having been flown to Kabul on a NATO aircraft and ushered into the presidential palace, officials said.
The episode underscores the uncertain and even bizarre nature of the atmosphere in which Afghan and US leaders search for ways to bring the nine-year-old US-led war to an end. The leaders of the Taliban are believed to be hiding in Pakistan, possibly with the assistance of the Pakistani government, which receives billions of dollars in US aid.
Many in the Taliban leadership, which is largely made up of barely literate clerics from the countryside, had not been seen in person by US, NATO or Afghan officials.
Doubts were raised about the man claiming to be Mansour - who by some accounts is the second-ranking official in the Taliban, behind only the founder, Mullah Mohammed Omar - after the third meeting, held in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. A man who had known Mansour years ago told Afghan officials that the man at the table did not resemble him.
The Western diplomat said the Afghan man was initially given a sizeable sum of money to take part in the talks - and to help persuade him to return.
Full article..... (http://www.theage.com.au/world/taliban-impostor-stuns-us-nato-20101123-185mw.html)
Interpol says
Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1267 (1999) and successor resolutions, including resolution 1822 (2008), the Subject is under the following UN Sanctions: Freezing of Assets, Travel Ban and Arms Embargo. The Subject has the following permanent reference number on the list maintained by the UN Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee (1267 Committee) which appears in the Special Notice for this subject: TI.M.11.01
http://www.interpol.int/public/Data/NoticesUN/Notice/Data/2007/49/2007_47849.asp
• Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Mansour is the former Minister of Civil Aviation and Transportation, and former shadow governor of Kandahar who is considered to be a possible successor to Baradar.
Link..... (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/02/the_talibans_top_lea.php)
Head of Aviation - Allegedly killed in Oct 2001. No confirmation at citation link
Link..... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Taliban_leaders)
I can't find a photos for this guy.