“American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there,” the New York Times reports.
“Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money… Twenty Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2019, but it was not clear which killings were under suspicion.”
“The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump… Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step.”
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