TALIBAN IMPOSTER CONS FAMED M16 OUT OF 'PILES OF CASH'

This has gotta be the ‘Con of the Year.’ I’m sorry, but I can’t stop laughing.
　
M16 BLAMED FOR FIASCO OF PHONY TALIBAN LEADER WHO WAS PAID A FORTUNE
　
Mail Online
November 26, 2010
　
A man posing as a Taliban leader who had talks with Afghanistan's president was paid and promoted by British intelligence, a newspaper said on Friday.
　
British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) agents paid a man they believed was Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour from May this year, believing they had achieved an 'historic breakthrough' in forging contacts between the Taliban and the Afghan government, according to The Times.
　
The article goes on to say that 'far from being a former Taliban government minister, the individual concerned is now thought to have been a shopkeeper, a minor Taliban commander, or simply a well-connected chancer from the Pakistani border city of Quetta,' it said.

'The British were convinced of the man's bona fides and flew 'Mansour' from Quetta to Kabul on a British C130 transport aircraft on a number of occasions,' it reported.
　
U.S. newspapers including The New York Times said earlier this week that a man described as a 'Taliban leader' who had taken part in 'secret peace talks' with the Afghan government was in fact an impostor.
　
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported two senior Afghan officials believed the man was a 'lowly shopkeeper' from Quetta, the Pakistan town to which the Taliban leadership fled in 2001.
　
When asked to comment, a Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We can neither confirm nor deny details of operations'.

Despite suspicions about his identity, nobody disputed his claim to be Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, one of the Taliban’s most senior leaders.
　
It was only months later – and after the handover of piles of cash to keep him coming back – that an old friend of Mr Mansour said they had the wrong man.
　
The impostor has not been seen since the alarm was raised.

Before the unexpected development, peace talks with the Taliban had been going smoothly, apparently helped significantly by the presence of ‘Mr Mansour'.
　
Masquerading as the second in command of the Taliban, behind founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, his willingness to talk appeared to be a sign the terror group was serious about ending the war.