taliban bring along one of USAs most wanted for secret talks with afgh government

[blu]

Taliban hold secret talks with Afghan president - Yahoo! News

what a crazy mess we have got ourselves involved in

The Taliban leaders who met with Karzai are: Maulvi Abdul Kabir, the governor of eastern Nangarhar province during Taliban rule and the current head of the Taliban's Peshawar council; his deputy governor in the Taliban regime, Sedre Azam; and Anwar-ul-Haq Mujahed, a militant leader from eastern Afghanistan credited with helping Osama bin Laden escape the U.S. assault on Tora Bora in 2001, the former official said.

They spent two nights in the Afghan capital. Kabir is on the U.S. most wanted list.

 

[sangha]

Taliban hold secret talks with Afghan president - Yahoo! News

what a crazy mess we have got ourselves involved in

The Taliban leaders who met with Karzai are: Maulvi Abdul Kabir, the governor of eastern Nangarhar province during Taliban rule and the current head of the Taliban's Peshawar council; his deputy governor in the Taliban regime, Sedre Azam; and Anwar-ul-Haq Mujahed, a militant leader from eastern Afghanistan credited with helping Osama bin Laden escape the U.S. assault on Tora Bora in 2001, the former official said.

They spent two nights in the Afghan capital. Kabir is on the U.S. most wanted list.

 

[RoccoR]

et al,

This is so embarrassing!

Taliban Leader in Secret Talks Was an Impostor
By DEXTER FILKINS and CARLOTTA GALL
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/world/asia/23kabul.html?_r=1

Published: November 22, 2010

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.

NATO and Afghan officials said they held three meetings with the man, who traveled from in Pakistan, where Taliban leaders have taken refuge......

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

(COMMENT)

OK, in addition to demonstrating that we are bumbling fools, the questions remains:

• How much money did we give this guy?
• Where did the money go?
• What does this do to the assessment by General Petraeus, that the impact of the surge is behind the Peace Talks if the talks were fake?

Is there any chance that we can get someone who knows what they are doing - in charge over there?

Most Respectfully,
R