British Brought in Taliban Impostor: Karzai Aide

British officials are at fault for bringing a Taliban impostor to Afghanistan’s presidential palace to meet Hamid Karzai, the president’s chief of staff tells the Washington Post. An Afghan at the meeting knew the man wasn’t top Taliban figure Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour; foreigners shouldn’t be dealing with the militants, he added, noting that Afghan intelligence discovered the impostor was a Pakistani shopkeeper.

“This shows that this process should be Afghan-led and fully Afghanized,” said Mohammad Umer Daudzai. “Afghans know this business, how to handle it.” British intelligence agents reportedly paid the impostor, according to the Times of London. Reuters reports that the Times found that "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."
(More Afghanistan stories.)