 In early 2010 , an Afghan man approached the NDS claiming to represent senior Taliban commander Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour . Offering a letter allegedly written by Mansour , he said Mansour was interested to open a channel for negotiations . Saleh 's people started testing the credentials of the supposed messenger , and judged them to be false , closing the case . The man then approached other Afghan government institutions . Saleh recounts , " When I learned ... that he was going through a different avenue , I warned the government that if it is this <unk> , if he claims this , and if it is this guy , trust me , he is not representing anybody ; it 's a scam . ... Be careful . This is not Mansour . But there was a perception that Amrullah is against talks , so let 's sideline him . " The Afghan man , who lived in Pakistan where the Taliban 's leadership council is based , subsequently held three meetings with NATO and Afghan officials . Having been flown from Pakistan to Kabul on a NATO airplane , the man met with President Karzai in the presidential palace . In late 2010 , it turned out , that the supposed representative for Mansour was an impostor as Saleh had previously warned . The New York Times writes : " In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel , United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor . " 
