Afghanistan: Brits blamed for Taliban imposter

Afghan chief of staff Mohammad Umer Daudzai said British authorities were responsible for bringing the fake Taliban commander to Kabul for a sensitive meeting with President Hamid Karzai.

Mr Daudzai told the Washington Post that an Afghan at the meeting realised “the Brits’ guy” was not who he claimed to be.

It emerged earlier this week that the conman claimed to be Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour – thought to be second only to Mullah Omar in the Taliban hierarchy.

The imposter reportedly met officials three times, was flown in a Nato aircraft to Kabul and was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Afghan intelligence officers later established he was a shopkeeper from the Pakistani town of Quetta, according to reports.

Taliban 'surprised' Nato intelligence so poor
The Afghan Taliban told Channel 4 News they were surprised over what they termed the "poor intelligence" of their enemy. 

A senior Taliban commander, Maulvi Rahmunullah, said: "The US and its allies were claiming to be holding negotiations with the Taliban. His impersonator exposed how their knowledge of the Taliban was inadequate and their intelligence so poor." 

Another senior commander, and aide of Mulla Akhtar Muhammed Mansour - the man the impersonator claimed to be - said: "Though we do not know about the impersonator, said to be a shopokeeper, imagine if a shopkeeper from Quetta can make fool and keep them engaged in talks for months, then how they believe to defeat the Taliban." 

Mr Daudzai said Britain and other Nato countries “are in haste” to promote a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan so their troops can be withdrawn. He said foreigners were getting too “excited” about potential breakthroughs and warned them to leave negotiations to Afghans.

“This shows that this process should be Afghan-led and fully Afghanised,” said Mr Daudzai.

“The last lesson we draw from this: International partners should not get excited so quickly with those kind of things. Afghans know this business, how to handle it. We handle it with care, we handle it with a result-based approach, with very less damage to all the other processes.”

The British embassy has refused to confirm or deny the remarks made in an interview with the Washington Post.

MI6 ‘paid imposter’

Claims have also been made that MI6 paid the man hundreds of thousands of pounds to the man in order to keep talks on track.

The Times newspaper quoted an unnamed Afghan Government official as saying that “naive” British intelligence agents believed the man’s claim to be a minister from the former Taliban regime who was in a position to negotiate on behalf of the fundamentalist movement.

Downing Street and the Foreign Office declined to comment on the reports this morning, saying that they would not discuss “operational” matters relating to intelligence.

According to The Times, MI6 agents in Pakistan believed they had made a breakthrough after making contact with the man claiming to be Mullah Mansour.

A meeting with Mr Karzai in Kabul was arranged in July or August, attended by British officials.

The Times quoted an Afghan government official as saying: “British intelligence was naive and there was wishful thinking on our part.”