Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says
Source: New York Times
American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan including targeting American troops amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.
The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the officials said. Twenty Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2019, but it was not clear which killings were under suspicion.
The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White Houses National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html?referringSource=articleShare
Read the fourth paragraph: "...but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said."
still_one
(92,433 posts)Cirque du So-What
(25,989 posts)Reagan and Brezhnev werent playing footsie like whats going on today.
still_one
(92,433 posts)Cirque du So-What
(25,989 posts)but he will utter nary a peep in protest. I hope the armed forces see who has their back...and who doesnt.
still_one
(92,433 posts)erronis
(15,371 posts)What the world's citizens see as black-and-white conflict between someone's good and someone else's evil is almost never what is real.
What has perhaps changed is the brazen openness of the influence peddling. Maybe the media and open-source tools have exposed more of the normal hanky-panky.
Maybe the current USSR is feeling its oats because we have such a lame horse in the stable right now.
But self-dealing by people in power has been going on since we were swinging from the branches. And will continue until we become a nice community of social insects.
TomCADem
(17,390 posts)...the benefit of cozying up to Russia and not moving in lockstep with NATO. Why would Putin do Trump dirty?
barbtries
(28,811 posts)kimbutgar
(21,215 posts)But of course his cult members wont hear about it or will care because their savior is making America great!
This is some treasonous shit.
Leghorn21
(13,527 posts)okay, not really
fleur-de-lisa
(14,628 posts)Dumpus won't do a damn thing to piss off Daddy Vladdy.
paleotn
(17,989 posts)What does surprise me is the Russians weren't actively involved earlier on....that we know of anyway. Afghanistan is a real sore spot for the Russians.
erronis
(15,371 posts)but we also had plenty of spies and double-agents.
Probably after Kennedy, the USSR (alias Russia), understood that it needed to take over part of the US political operations. They may have targeted Democrats or Repuglicans (probably both) and definitely looked for third-party opportunities.
The Dulles brothers at State and CIA approved operations against other democracies in the name of corporate interests.
Nixon showed that corruption and lying was a good way to get a foot-hold. Blackmail is extremely powerful, especially against ethically-challenged politicians.
Reagan, GWHB (ex-CIA director), and W continued the war-mongering in the interests of the large corporations profits.
Not that I think the Democrats are blameless. Just against this backdrop they seem like rank amateurs at profiting from the spoils.
Mike Nelson
(9,970 posts)... they wouldn't even try this under a President Hillary Clinton.
pwb
(11,292 posts)Supplying our enemies with AK-47s, shoulder fired rockets, mines, grenades, mortars, you name it. Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan, all used Russian weapons to kill Americans. Trumps buddies.
IthinkThereforeIAM
(3,077 posts)... yep, thanks for filling in the blanks for many of those of us who have not followed this since the late 70's.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Thomas Hurt
(13,903 posts)Magoo48
(4,721 posts)Its just the kind of horseshit intelligence Agent Orange would leak hisownself.
More chaos is right up his alley.
sarisataka
(18,792 posts)A goose/gander thing. The mujahedeen didn't make those Stinger missiles themselves
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)not_the_one
(2,227 posts)As are ALL of our governmental radio voices of freedom.
Haven't you been keeping up with his latest replacing of the heads of ALL those entities? He thinks he is going to have his own propaganda network.
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)dalton99a
(81,635 posts)mahina
(17,711 posts)Oh my God the poor families.
The White House has yet to authorize any step
List left
(595 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)Even Trump's base might not like this...but I can always be shocked by the level of their delusion.
marie999
(3,334 posts)the Russians are helping them when we invaded. Besides, if we don't have these wars, what happens to our war economy? How are munitions companies going to make all that money if we don't use our weapons? How are we going to develop better weapons to kill people? Aren't you willing to die for the economy?
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,274 posts)ck4829
(35,093 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,638 posts)Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)@TheRickWilson
"Hey, Mr. President, Russia is paying the Taliban a bounty to kill American soliders."
TRUMP: "Let's put Russia back in the G8."
7:33 PM · Jun 26, 2020·TweetDeck
Link to tweet
ffr
(22,672 posts)You cannot stand by and let an adversary kill you soldiers while they're giving you advice on how to oppress your citizens and not take action against them.
MRDAWG
(501 posts)*
Linda Ed
(493 posts)Its way past time for US Troops to march him out of the White House as a domestic enemy of the people. If he does not resign in the next 2-3 days Im all for it. This deadly farce has gone on long enough.
Despite the fact that Putin put a bounty on American troops heads, trump IGNORED the act of war and called Putin and invited him personally to the G-7 Summit???
The integrity of America's November election is at stake..
Alex4Martinez
(2,198 posts)You lose your generals, your joint chiefs, and now your soldiers.
Time to hit the bunker, Adolf.
dalton99a
(81,635 posts)greyl
(22,990 posts)Trumps tweet was surprising because it would mean that the president was ready to host members of the Taliban at the presidential retreat in Maryland just days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. More than 2,400 U.S. troops have been killed since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan to go after the Taliban, which were harboring al-Qaida leaders responsible for 9/11.
Canceling the talks also goes against Trumps pledge to withdraw the remaining 13,000 to 14,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan and close U.S. involvement in the conflict that is closing in on 18 years.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/09/08/trump-calls-off-secret-camp-david-meeting-with-taliban-afghan-leaders/
More: https://www.axios.com/pompeo-defends-taliban-camp-david-peace-talks-8e1ac0ae-9587-417a-8b6f-ecc772ffc5c0.html
usregimechange
(18,373 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,949 posts)Don't forget the newer republican meme; 'Russia is our friend.'
Progressive dog
(6,921 posts)Trump learned how to kid from Putin, but he's too mentally incompetent to remember that he was just kidding.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)ElementaryPenguin
(7,800 posts)No way to defend this - not for anyone in the GOP - or even FAUX News.
Kid Berwyn
(14,980 posts)May he face justice real soon.