Pompeo Says US Frequently Urges Russia to Stop Selling Small Arms in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said that the United States frequently urges Russia to stop engaging in small arms sales that put Americans at risk in Afghanistan.

On Friday, the New York Times ran an article citing unnamed intelligence officials as saying that President Donald Trump had been presented with an intelligence report claiming Russia could have paid bounties to Taliban-linked militants to assassinate US troops in Afghanistan. Lawmakers briefed on the intelligence this week said one of the US spy agencies has evidence that disputes the allegation.

"The Russians have been selling small arms that put Americans at risk there [Afghanistan] for ten years. We've objected to it," Pompeo said. "With great frequency when I speak with my Russian counterparts we talk about Afghanistan, we talk about the fact that we do not want them engaged in this."

Pompeo said the intelligence community handled the situation "incredibly well.

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"We see threats in intelligence reporting to our soldiers stationed all over the world every single day," he added.

Trump said that neither he nor Vice President Mike Pence received a briefing on the issue because the US intelligence community said the allegations were not verified or substantiated. Trump called the article another attempt at a Russia hoax to make Republicans look bad in an election year.

Russian officials have denied the allegations as false and characterized them as being part of the internal political infighting in the United States.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the Russian and US governments have not been in contact regarding the US corporate media allegations.

US military leaders in recent years, without providing any evidence, have repeatedly accused Russia of supporting the Taliban - allegations which Moscow has repeatedly denied.