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The New York Times (NYT) backtracked Tuesday, as it was revealed a man the paper had described as a "Taliban leader" who had taken part in "secret peace talks" with the Afghan government was no more than an impostor. According to the NYT, the man had been identified as Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, and had held three meetings with NATO and Afghan officials. However, the US Army confirmed Monday that "they had given up hope" he was the leader previously thought. "It's not him … and we gave him a lot of money," the newspaper quoted an unidentified Western diplomat in Kabul, apparently intimately involved in the discussions, as saying. "The fake Taliban leader even met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, having been flown to Kabul on a NATO aircraft and ushered into the presidential palace," the newspaper said, again citing unidentified officials. The Washington Post reported Tuesday the views of two senior Afghan officials who believed the man to be a "lowly shopkeeper" from Quetta, the Pakistani town where the Taliban leadership fled in late 2001. Karzai rebutted the claims strongly in a press conference at his palace Tuesday, saying, "Do not accept reports by foreign media regarding our meeting with Taliban leaders, it is all publicity and lies." Karzai also struck a defiant tone, calling his NATO allies "naughty friends" and warned that if they did not provide more equipment and training for Afghan security forces, he would seek it from others. Karzai said his army and police needed more help if the 2014 deadline for Afghanistan forces to assume control of all national security was to be met. This timeline was formally endorsed by NATO at a summit in Lisbon last week. However, Karzai did recognize that the alliance would continue to play a major role in his country long after the handover of control. Reuters |
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