US in desperate need of Pakistan against 'Russia-Taliban union'

As expected, the controversy over Russia's alleged bounties for killing American and NATO troops in Afghanistan is steadily snowballing.

The New York Times has come out with more leaks such as bank transfers from accounts identified with the Russian military intelligence to the Taliban, "hawala" transactions as well as the Afghan government's assistance to the US intelligence to zero in on the Russian-Taliban nexus.

Meanwhile, the US Congress is seized of the matter, possibly triggering another "Russiagate". The Democrats are on the warpath. Top White House aides are briefing the Senate Intelligence Committee later today.

The Times also featured today an Op-Ed on this topic by former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, who is widely mentioned as a possible vice-presidential running mate on the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's ticket in the November elections. Rice tore into President Trump and his key aides.

To be sure, the controversy will seriously impact the endgame in Afghanistan. The first sign of it appeared on Tuesday when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a video conference with the Taliban's deputy head and chief negotiator at Doha, Mullah Baradar. The White House readout said Pompeo discussed with the Taliban leader the implementation of the Doha pact of February on the Afghan peace process and "made clear the (US) expectation for the Taliban to live up to their commitments, which include not attacking Americans."

Evidently, the White House is directly warning the Taliban against any attacks on the US troops. An AP report cited the Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen as tweeting that Pompeo and Baradar also "discussed ways of moving … forward" the implementation of the Doha pact.

The White House is anxious that the intra-Afghan peace talks should take place without further delay so that the US troop withdrawal can be announced.