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Times Online
How MI6 was fooled by Taleban impostor
MI6 became convinced it had achieved an 'historic breakthrough' in forging
contacts between the Taleban and the Afghan Government
Tom Coghlan , Michael Evans and Daniel Lloyd
British Intelligence has suffered its most embarrassing setback since Iraq
after a senior Taleban commander promoted by MI6 as the key to an Afghan
peace process was exposed as an impostor.
An investigation by The Times can reveal that British agents paid Mullah
Akhtar Mohammad Mansour from May this year, promoting him as a genuine
Taleban figure of the highest standing who was capable of negotiating with
senior American and Afghan officials.
But according to officials in Britain, America and Afghanistan, he was
uncovered this month as a fraudster, dealing a blow to the credibility of
the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. Far from being a former Taleban
government minister, the individual concerned is now thought to have been a
shopkeeper, a minor Taleban commander, or simply a well-connected chancer
from the Pakistani border city of Quetta.
A senior Afghan government official said yesterday: “British Intelligence
was naive and there was wishful thinking on our part.”
One source with knowledge of the affair described it as simply “a major f**
*-up”.
Last night Bill Harris, who retired this month as the most senior US
representative in Kandahar province, told The Times that it was not British
intelligence officers alone who were responsible for the error. “Something
this stupid generally requires teamwork,” he said.
Mr Harris said that he was unsure if the mistake could be entirely pinned on
British Intelligence, but added: “I can say that US Intelligence has long
been institutionally sceptical of dealing with ‘non-marquee Taleban’ and
senior US military always felt that their British comrades in arms might
outrun their headlights on reconciliation unless reined in.”
The Times has learnt that MI6 became convinced that it had achieved an “
historic breakthrough” in forging contacts between the Taleban and the
Afghan Government. Intelligence officers, thought to have been based in
Islamabad, MI6’s biggest station, had made contact with a man claiming to
be Mullah Mansour, a former Taleban government minister and now second only
to Mullah Omar in the Taleban leadership. 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.
Afghan officials confirm that meetings took place, including one with
President Karzai in his guarded palace in Kabul. The man was reimbursed by
MI6 with several hundred thousand dollars, possibly as much as half a
million, to encourage further talks. The man’s bargaining position seemed
unusually moderate. He did not, for instance, demand Western troop
withdrawal as a precursor to formal talks with the Afghan Government, as has
been the standing Taleban position.
In June, the CIA apparently remained sceptical about MI6’s “coup”. Leon
Panetta, the CIA Director, went on public record to say that no serious
approach was under way. US sources suggested that the scepticism extended
then to General David Petraeus, commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan.
By September General Petraeus was briefing reporters, including The Times,
that negotiations involved senior Taleban figures. In October he went
farther, saying that the senior-level contacts were travelling in and out of
Afghanistan on Nato aircraft. One Western official said that those who
raised doubts about the “Mansour” programme were swept aside. In London,
briefings were going to ministerial level and above in Government.
Last month those hopes began to unravel after one Afghan official, who had
met the real Mullah Mansour years before, said that the informant was not
the same man. At that point MI6’s man disappeared. Pakistani officials told
The Times yesterday that a hunt was under way for him.
Hope has since given way to bitterness and a blame game. One alliance
official described a continuing “Operation Egg Not on My Face” between
intelligence agencies.
One well-placed source said: “It wasn’t just the Brits who were to blame,
even though they were the ones who provided the transport for the trips and
the money to persuade him to come back.”
He added: “It wasn’t like no one else was involved and everyone just said,
‘okay we’ll go along with it because British intelligence insists he’s
the right man’.”
The Times understands that though the fake “Mansour” was handled by MI6,
the US was involved in checking his bona fides using signal intelligence.
The source said: “It should have been the Afghans themselves who should
have pointed out the almighty cock-up. Sometimes Nato doesn’t know one
bearded, turbanned Taleban leader from another. But surely it was up to the
Afghans, who know all the key Taleban players, to have pointed out that this
was not Mohammad Mansour.”
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