WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2020) White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters on Monday that allegations concerning Russian bounties offered to Afghan militants to kill US soldiers remain uncorroborated, but warned that each country is being put on notice that such practices are unacceptable to the United States.
"To this day there are varying views on the Russian bounty intelligence. DOD [Department of Defense], NSC [National Security Council], and ODNI [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] are all pointing that out," McEnany said during a briefing.
McEnany reiterated that the intelligence is "uncorroborated" and reproached a reporter for treating it as if the allegations were true.
"But rest assured, every country in this world is put on notice that bounties on the heads of US troops are unacceptable. And this President [Donald Trump] will stand for US troops at home and abroad," McEnany said.
Last month, the New York Times reported citing unnamed US officials that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to assassinate US troops in Afghanistan, and that Trump was briefed on the matter but did not respond.
Trump called the article an attempt an another Russia hoax to make Republicans look bad in an election year and denied being briefed precisely because the information was not verified.� While White House officials and senior US military leaders publicly said the intelligence was not convincing. In addition, the National Security Agency gave "low confidence" to the veracity of the allegations.
Russian officials have denied the allegations as untrue and characterized them as part of the internal political infighting in the United States.
