This is what happens when civilian government weakens and otherwise disestablishes a strong diplomatic corps and hands the reins of foreign relations to old soldiers, militarists and vested interests who are by definition inept and uninterested in applying diplomatic means in resolving conflict — let alone advancing peace or reconciliation — and negotiating for other nations’ natural resources.
A man called Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, thought to be one of the highest ranking members of the Taliban, turns out to be “an impostor.” Foreign occupation forces and their governments apparently paid large amounts of money to a liar and impersonator who repeatedly fooled Afghan and U.S.-NATO officials.
“The revelation that the man presumed to be a high-ranking Taliban leader who had met with top Afghan officials was an imposter [New York Times reporting] sheds new light on Gen. David Petraeus’s aggressive propaganda about the supposed Taliban approach to the Hamid Karzai regime,” writes Gareth Porter, investigative journalist and historian specializing in U.S. national security policy.
“Ever since August [2010], Petraeus had been playing up the Taliban’s supposed willingness to talk peace with Karzai as a development that paralleled the success he had claimed in splitting the Sunni insurgency in 2007 in Iraq. However, it is now clear that Petraeus was deceiving himself as well as the news media in accepting the man claiming to be the second-ranking Taliban commander Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour as genuine — despite a number of indications to the contrary.”
In late summer and early autumn, “Petraeus and Afghan contacts with the imposter ignored warning signals [that willingly or ignorantly they were being duped].”
“Taliban leadership was firmly denying that they were negotiating with the Afghan government.“Petraeus’s failure to heed those signals was certainly driven by his strong desire to establish yet another narrative emphasizing his brilliance as a war strategist, judging from his public statements prior to the revelation of the fraud. …
During the three-day Muslim holiday that began September 9, Mullah Omar [spiritual leader of the Taliban movement] had said the Taliban would ‘never accept’ the current government.
On September 29, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Majahid said Petraeus’s claim that the Taliban were negotiating with the Afghan government was ‘completely baseless’ and that the Taliban would not negotiate with ‘foreign invaders or their puppet government.’
Even more important, Taliban officials, as reported in the summer by Syed Saleem Shahzad in the Asia Times, were telling Pakistani intelligence officers seeking clarification on the Taliban position on peace that the U.S. and NATO forces would have to be withdrawn before any settlement with Karzai.…
Most journalists and the U.S. political elite believe it was Petraeus’s maneuvering combined with the surge that produced [in Iraq] the Sunni turn towards cooperation against al Qaeda and Petraeus has been able to reap the political benefit from this narrative. However, “the narrative of Petraeus-driven success is largely mythical: the Sunni shift toward joining local anti-al Qaeda militia units was already well underway before Petraeus took command in February 2007.”
This past October or early November in Afghanistan, “Petraeus’s U.S.-NATO command, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), finally consulted someone who has actually known Mullah Mansour. Those consulted “told [Petraeus’s U.S.-NATO command] that the man they had been dealing with [the man called Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour] was an imposter.”
“Neither ISAF nor the Karzai government has been able to establish the identity of the imposter,” Porter reports.
This is what happens when civilian government is inept or irresponsible it its proper leadership and conduct of foreign affairs.
Sources and notes
Mullah Omar was Afghanistan’s de facto head of state (1996-late 2001) under the official title ‘Head of the Supreme Council.’ He held the title Commander of the Faithful of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, officially recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Mullah Mohammed Omar (born circa 1959), often simply called Mullah Omar, is the spiritual leader of the Taliban movement that operates in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan [Wikipedia].
“Afghanistan Plagued By Fake Mullahs, Fraudulent Elections, More Troops, and Delayed Withdrawal,” Uprising Radio (GUEST: Gareth Porter, investigative journalist and historian specializing in U.S. national security policy, writer for the Inter Press Service), November, 24, 2010, http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=17354
Gareth Porter’s work online at www.ipsnews.net
“An Overeager Petraeus Ignored Danger Signs on Taliban Imposter” (Gareth Porter), November 25, 2010, Antiwar Forum, http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2010/11/24/an-overeager-petraeus-ignored-danger-signs-on-taliban-imposter/
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