US President Donald Trump received a written intelligence briefing alleging that Russian military could have offered bounties to the Taliban for attacking US troops, including three US marines who were killed in a truck bombing in Afghanistan last year, as early as in February, just days before the US signed a peace deal with the Islamic movement, The New York Times reported, citing US officials familiar with the matter
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2020) US President Donald Trump received a written intelligence briefing alleging that Russian military could have offered bounties to the Taliban for attacking US troops, including three US marines who were killed in a truck bombing in Afghanistan last year, as early as in February, just days before the US signed a peace deal with the Islamic movement, The New York Times reported, citing US officials familiar with the matter.
The story comes on the heels of an earlier article by The New York Times, which said last week that Trump had been presented with an intelligence report that claimed that Moscow could have paid bounties to armed Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan to assassinate US soldiers. The reports have since been refuted by Moscow and the Taliban.
The new information was disclosed, as the US administration attempted to downgrade on Monday the intelligence assessment regarding Moscow's alleged willingness to reward the killing of US troops in the middle eastern country, saying that Trump was never briefed about the matter, the newspaper reported. The Pentagon said it had no evidence to validate the allegations.
According to new reports, the car explosion that killed the three marines in April 2019 was carried out as part of attacks allegedly incentivized by Moscow. The information was presented in the president's Daily Brief document, which includes the government's latest national security insights, in late February. One of the officials cited the exact date � February, 27, just two days prior to the signing of the US-Taliban peace deal in Doha.
The newspaper also reported that a National Security Council spokesman refused to comment on any connection between the US marines' deaths and the suspected collusion. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany also did not answer during Monday press conference when asked whether the intelligence was included in the written briefing.
Within the context, John Ratcliffe, the new director of the national intelligence, issued a statement late on Monday warning that leaks about the matter were a crime, adding that the probe into the matter is still ongoing.
The reports on the bounty were refuted by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who said that these rumors were set to create obstacles to the US' pullout from the country. The spokesman stressed that the Taliban's activities were not related to any intelligence body or foreign country.
A representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said that the reports were fake and aimed at disrupting the Afghan peace process.
