Russian Unit Placed Bounties on US Troops in Afghanistan

| June 28, 2020

According to US intelligence, a Russian unit placed bounties on heads in Afghanistan. Included among the targets were American service members. There’s speculation that the Russians wanted to get even for a failed attack in Syria against a US outpost. Some suggest that the Russians are trying to undermine our efforts in Afghanistan to keep us bogged down there.

From DNYUZ:

Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the officials said. 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, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. 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, the officials said.

An operation to incentivize the killing of American and other NATO troops would be a significant and provocative escalation of what American and Afghan officials have said is Russian support for the Taliban, and it would be the first time the Russian spy unit was known to have orchestrated attacks on Western troops.

Any involvement with the Taliban that resulted in the deaths of American troops would also be a huge escalation of Russia’s so-called hybrid war against the United States, a strategy of destabilizing adversaries through a combination of such tactics as cyberattacks, the spread of fake news and covert and deniable military operations.

More information could be obtained on DNYUZ and on Fox News.

Category: Afghanistan, Russia

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5th/77th FA

I ’bout done got to where I don’t believe hardly anything on the news anymore.

I do believe this. It is way yonder past time that we GTFO of this tarbaby of A’Stan. We have spent more than enough American Blood and Treasure there. We helped them kill Russians in the 80s, the Russians helped them kill Americans recently. When we, or the Russians, or the Chinese, or the who evers are gone, then they will go back to killing one another.

Fyrfighter

Never Forget!

A Proud Infidel®™

I’m doubtful of that because the Afghans still hate Russians with a deep vengeance.

Firebase

The Russians withdrew from Afghanistan over 20 years ago. Americans got over their dislike for Germans and Japanese rather quickly after WW2 ended.

Money talks, whether it’s Dollars or Rubles, or Deutschmarks or Yen.

Slow Joe

I disagree.

Afghans are a special type of retard, and they hold grudges for centuries.

A Proud Infidel®™

Middle Easterners do that in general, many are STILL pissed off about the Crusades!

Mason

Too soon. It’s only been eight centuries.

The Other Whitey

They hate Russians, but do they hate them enough to not take their money? Remember, these are people whose economy is built on the heroin trade, yet they claim a moral objection to beer. Principles don’t seem to be a strong suit.

TallyWhagger

This seems like something in John Kerry’s area of expertise.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

I had fox on earlier and the demoRats were saying that the POTUS was notified about the bounty and didn’t say anything because he was putins friend BUT Trump says that he was never notified and all the top agencies involved said that they never notified Trump and the A-HOLE demoRAT on fox said that Trump was lying. Yup the demoRAT merry go round sponsored by obamas shadow govt slow moving coup is still looking to grab those impeachment papers from the former brass ring slot.

Jus Bill

Aaaaand…

It’s been debunked by the WH, the Russians AND even the Taliban!

LC

Yeah, there’s three sources I consider reliable on this sort of thing.

I’m guessing we’ll learn more soon, one way or another – the Brits are saying it’s true, and I’m inclined to give them a wee bit more credit than, say, the Taliban or Russia on this sort of thing:

https://news.sky.com/story/russia-paid-taliban-fighters-to-attack-british-troops-in-afghanistan-12016425

UpNorth

The same people responsible for the Steele dossier? Did they forward this on to Fusion GPS?

GTFOH with that.

LC

So, because an ex-MI6 guy wrote something with incorrect info, all of British Intelligence sucks? And, instead, we’re trusting the FSB and the Taliban as beacons of truth and integrity?

I think maybe that’s not the wisest course of action. Let’s see what unfolds over the next few days.

rgr769

“Incorrect info?” The entire document is a massive fraud. The only thing in it that was correct was that Trump went to Moscow for a Miss Universe pageant. Everything else was made up out of whole cloth. Oh, but there was apparently a Michael Cohen that went to Prague, just not one who was connected to Trump. My fave was the representation about a Russian embassy in Miami which doesn’t exist. The whole series of documents has the finerprints of Syd “Vicious” Blumethal and his butt-buddy Cody Shearer all over them.

SFC D

I think you meant “blatant lie” where you said “incorrect info”.

LC

We’re clearly going to disagree on this, but it was quite literally an intelligence report – unconfirmed things from a variety of sources, and in HUMINT, that’s all you get. With SIGINT you often get more certainty in that what and where, but it still is generally considered unconfirmed, especially when via a single source.

It’s like saying someone with an expert marksman badge is a crappy shot because when providing covering fire in an engagement, the number of shots they fired was far lower than the number of targets hit – covering fire, like reports from single sources, has a role to play. It’s not the same role as a sniper, or a confirmed source.

The bigger issue, again, is that people here seem willing to trust the FSB and Taliban more than our UK allies, which I find, to put it Britishly, mildly problematic.

SFC D

“unconfirmed things from a variety of sources, and in HUMINT, that’s all you get.”

And the data from those “unconfirmed sources” were shown to be made up of whole cloth, yet it was still used to obtain a FISA warrant. I don’t know about your dictionary, but in mine, that’s called a blatant lie.

LC

Am I here defending that? No. I’m pointing out that our allies confirmed this, and just because an ex-MI6 guy ‘made up lies out of whole cloth’, in your words, doesn’t mean that their years of excellence in intelligence matters are now null and void, and we trust the Taliban and FSB over them.

I mean, come on. If Lars were on here talking about trusting China over US or UK intelligence, people would rightly pounce upon him. Why are we dismissing UK intel, and accepting Taliban and FSB statements?

Commissar

This has not been debunked.

It was confirmed by multiple sources and even briefed to troops in Afghanistan. And the Brtis confirmed their soldiers also had bounties.

11B-Mailclerk

… because the Murder Hornets thing went nowhere.

AW1Ed

Next SV boast, “No shit, the Russians had a bounty on me for killing Taliban, man!”

Fyrfighter

“The 80’s called, they want their foreign policy back”… Din’t someone say that during a Presidential debate a few years back?? Anyone recall who it was??

PJS

I’m kind of doubtful on this one. I mean if it were a world power we were going head to head with, economically and politically I could see it. Some nation we were really hacking off by renegotiating trade deals, and curbing their territorial ambitions say by naval force. Yeah I could see them being motivated to aggravate our problems in A stan (and domestically). Hmm I wonder what country I could be thinking of?

Joe

This is the kind of thing that will create great cognitive dissonance among members of the US military who are also members of the cult of Trump

OmegaPaladin

Cult of Trump?

I’ve never heard of this cult, do they have priestesses who are all as hot as Melania? Can we sacrifice Antifas to the Orange Overlord? Come on man, don’t hold out on us, you know any Trump temple is going to obvious as hell, yuuuuuge with gold and marble everywhere. Give us the details on this cult!

Joe

Melania hot! Ick!

OAE CPO USN Ret

*puts on tinfoil hat*

But didn’t the CIA pretty much do the same thing when it was the Afghani’s vs Russia?

penguinman000

What?! Next you are going to tell me they wrote books about it…And don’t you dare try to tell me they made movies about it too!

Commissar

This has not been debunked. This did happen. The only thing in dispute is if Trump was notified.

Well, he has been now….

And went golfing. Again.

Stop making excuses for this traitor.

Commissar

The motivated reasoning and desperate desire not to believe this on this forum is more cult like behavior.

This has not been debunked. This did happen. The only thing in dispute is if Trump was notified.

Well, he has been now….

And went golfing.

Stop making excuses for this traitor.

Twist

You are the last person who needs to be claiming that anything is cult like behavior. If you really want to see cult like behavior reread your own posts.

SFC D

Show me the proof, or go away. The least reliable source of information in the known world is you. I suggest you grab your antifa flag and join your fellow travelers in Seattle.

A Proud Infidel®™

Golfing? You mean like what your hero B. Hussein 0bama did a record number of times while in Office?

You lose.

Blaster

Sources??????

Are you privy to info outside the MSM that the rest of us are not????

SgtBob

“Some intelligence officials.” Could those be the “Some ancient astronaut theorists” referenced on a TV channel? Come on, guys. You used to be better than this.

Roh-Dog

So now we’re going to some handwringing over the *possibility* of a proxy conflict with Russia?
Here’s a cure: let’s mind our own business, get out of Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and MAYBE they won’t be able to hit us.
Just a thought.

SFC D

At what point in US history did we NOT have a proxy conflict with any communist country, Russia in particular? China doesn’t count, because as we all know, it isn’t communist.

Roh-Dog

+1 and BOOM!

OWB

And why is this a thing? And why is it just NOW a thing??

Ho hum. Since it’s all a magic show filled with delusion, illusions, and other diversions, why should I care if they did or didn’t? At this point, what does it matter anyway?

Slow Joe

kaFe weNs.

penguinman000

So when we found GPS with origin points in Syria and Iran that were carried by dead bad guys in Iraq was I just imagining things? They must’ve just been hikers who got lost and picked up weapons and explosive vests along the way.

Or how about the Pakistani ass hat our ANA partners captured in Afghanistan with a literal bag of cash? He must’ve been an enterprising venture captialist looking to fund small businesses.

Of course our adversaries are paying bounties to kill Americans. They were paying when folks laughed at Romey for saying Russia was a threat. And they are paying now. It’s not going to change.

I’m trying to figure out why this is news. Its almost like everyone forgot we killed between 60-120 Russians in 2018. Maybe I’m a simpleton who doesn’t get it.

Why is this even a question or an issue?

rgr769

Gee, Progda has their panties all in a bunch because of some doubtful rumor that Ruskies were supposedly paying a bounty on our troops in A-stan. But they could have cared less when the Iranians were killing us regularly in Iraq with their truck killing roadside bombs. Also, they don’t seem to care that the Hildabeast’s ordinance for the Slamonazi’s in Syria was used against our troops in Syria and A-stan. But I guess all that stuff had the big D (for D-rat) on it and was okey doked by their fave half-Black prezzy.

CM

Reported by New York Times? Nope, don’t believe it for one second. Anyone who believes a single thing from any/all media sources is a fool, none of the major MSM networks or papers can be trusted. The only reliable sources are independent sources, discussions with like minded people investigating issues/looking for evidence, etc. The media and news is nothing more than a shield and arm for foreign groups/DNC.