Russian operation targeted coalition troops in Afghanistan
A Russian military spy unit offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to attack coalition forces in Afghanistan, including U.S. and British troops, a striking escalation of the Kremlin’s hostility toward the United States, American intelligence has found.
The Russian operation, first reported by The New York Times, has generated an intense debate within the Trump administration about how best to respond to a troubling new tactic by a nation that most U.S. officials regard as a potential foe but that President Donald Trump has frequently embraced as a friend, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive intelligence matter.
The officials said administration leaders learned of reported bounties in recent months from U.S. intelligence agencies, prompting a series of internal discussions, including a large interagency meeting held in late March. According to one person familiar with the matter, the responses discussed at that meeting included sending a diplomatic communication to relay disapproval and authorizing new sanctions.
Spokesmen for the National Security Council, the Pentagon and the CIA declined to comment.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement the story “illustrates the low intellectual abilities of propagandists from American intelligence, who instead of inventing something more reliable have to come up with such nonsense . ... However, what else can be expected from intelligence, which miserably failed the twenty-year war in Afghanistan.”
The Taliban denied any involvement.
The reports of Russian involvement in operations targeting Americans, if confirmed, sparked anger on Capitol Hill and questions about why the administration has not responded to it.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a combat veteran who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized Mr. Trump for supporting Russia’s return to the G-7 group of nations at a time when Moscow was, according to U.S. intelligence, seeking to harm American troops.
“Donald ‘America First’ Trump is literally placing Russian interests ahead of American lives, and Republicans do nothing,” she tweeted. “Putting party before country doesn’t just empower Trump to continue serving his own interests; it can cost American lives too.”