According to The New York Times, the US intelligence community concluded that Russia may have offered bounties to Afghan militants for killing US troops deployed to the Central Asian country. Both Russia and the Taliban have denied the accusations. The White House also stated the reports are not verified.
The US Department of Defence has no evidence to back up allegations about collusion between Russia and the Taliban, according to Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.
“The Department of Defense continues to evaluate intelligence that Russian GRU operatives were engaged in malign activity against the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan,” Hoffman said in a statement.
What is Russia being accused of?
The New York Times ran an article on Monday, citing unnamed intelligence officials as claiming that President Trump in February received a written briefing that the US intelligence community believes Russia had paid Taliban-linked militants to kill US and coalition troops in Afghanistan amid peace talks with the militant group last year.
Intelligence agencies have reportedly launched an investigation into the killing of three US Marines in a car bombing outside a military base in Afghanistan in April 2019, alleging a Russia link.
This article followed up a Times story, published on Friday, that claimed Trump had been told about (but did not react to) intelligence about alleged Russian…
