Some 13,000 US troops are still stationed in Afghanistan, 18 years soon after the US intervention to oust the Taliban
Russia has turned down as “baseless” accusations that it offered Taliban-linked militants rewards to kill US and other Nato troops in Afghanistan.
The New York Instances and Washington Put up cited US officers as saying a Russian army intelligence unit connected to assassination attempts in Europe experienced presented the alleged bounties last calendar year.
The Russian embassy in the US said the statements experienced led to threats to diplomats.
The Taliban also denied there was any this sort of deal with Russian intelligence.
The experiences occur as the US tries to negotiate a peace offer to end the 19-yr war in Afghanistan.
According to the New York Situations, President Donald Trump was briefed on the experiences in March, but the White Property has denied this.
“Neither the president nor the vice-president have been briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence,” explained White Household push secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Saturday evening.
However, she added, “this does not converse to the benefit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of The New York Instances tale erroneously suggesting that President Trump was briefed on this subject.”
The unnamed officers cited by the New York Periods mentioned US intelligence agencies experienced concluded months ago that a unit of Russia’s GRU navy intelligence agency had sought to destabilise its adversaries by covertly providing bounties for successful assaults on coalition forces.
Islamist militants, or armed prison components closely affiliated with them, were believed to have gathered some funds, the newspaper claimed.
In a collection of Twitter posts, the Russian embassy in the US accused the paper of selling pretend news.
20 American troops died in Afghanistan in 2019, but the New York Instances stated it was not apparent which fatalities ended up below suspicion.
The officials quoted by the New York Occasions reported the White House’s Countrywide Protection Council had viewed as how to react, which includes imposing an escalating raft of sanctions versus Russia.
The GRU device allegedly involved has also been connected to the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent in Salisbury, England, in March 2018.
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A spokesman for the Taliban also called the accusations baseless.
“Our concentrate on killings and assassinations were being ongoing in several years in advance of, and we did it on our personal means,” Zabihullah Mujahid instructed the New York Situations.
He additional that the Taliban had stopped attacking US and Nato forces right after they agreed in February to a phased troop withdrawal and to elevate sanctions. In return, the Taliban explained they would not allow extremist groups to run in areas they management.
