A US lawmaker has renewed his call to end the war in Afghanistan after it was revealed that a self-proclaimed senior Taliban negotiator working with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and Nato officials was an imposter.
"The war in Afghanistan is taking place in a netherworld where facts and common sense have no place. elections are fake. our deadline to withdraw is a fake. Now, we learn that a fake Taliban leader has been leading us to believe that Nato was facilitating high-level talks between Taliban leadership and the corrupt Afghan central government we’re propping up," Congressman Dennis Kucinich, said.
"It was truly amazing that our government said we were negotiating with high-level Taliban leadership while at the same time we were stepping up air strikes to wipe them out," he said.
Kucinich alleged that evidence abounds that the Mr Karzai regime in Kabul is among the most corrupt in the world.
"President Mr Karzai rules through crony capitalism. he works to protect his cronies rather than the Afghan people. Our tax dollars are going to the Mr Karzai family and its supporters to buy villas in Dubai," he said.
"We know that our tax dollars fund both sides of the conflict. we know that our 'allies' pay the enemy not to attack our troops and that they also may be bribing insurgents to attack our troops. We also know that US tax dollars fund Afghan warlords," he said.
Nato officials have become so skilled in self-deception that a senior Nato official recently claimed that Kabul is safer for children than most western cities.
Meanwhile, those who continue to advocate for the war apply the dark arts of public relations to manufacture support for a war which is neither winnable, nor moral nor sane.
"It is time for Congress to start asking General Petraeus some direct questions," the US lawmaker said.
"The war in Afghanistan is longer than any other war America has ever fought. It has cost US tax payers more than a trillion dollars. More than 1300 Americans have died, thousands more wounded. countless innocent Afghan civilians have died," he said.
"The only real thing about this war is the dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, the wasted tax dollars and the mounting evidence telling us to get out," the Congressman said.