Lawmakers want answers on reports Russia paid Taliban bounty to attack US troops

| July 2, 2020


In this March 2, 2020, file photo, Afghan Taliban fighters and villagers attend a gathering as they celebrate the peace deal signed between US and Taliban in Laghman Province, Alingar district, Afghanistan. (Wali Sabawoon/NurPhoto via Getty Images, FILE)

Amid reports that a Russian paramilitary unit offered the Taliban bounties to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the Trump administration is pushing ahead with its peace process to end America’s longest war and withdraw U.S. forces.

The Taliban have previously denied the reports of receiving or being offered Russian bounties, telling the New York Times they attacked Americans “on our own resources,” but have stopped in recent months because of the U.S. deal.

Instead, the New York Times posted this:

Russia offered terrorists up to $100,000 per US troop killed in Afghanistan

By: RYAN MORGAN

Afghan officials have backed some claims that Russian military spies paid bounties to terrorists to kill U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan.

Unnamed Afghan officials who spoke with the New York Times have said they believe bounty payments to kill U.S. troops went as high as $100,000 per killed soldier.

The Times reported the payment detail within a report discussing the payment network Russia’s GRU intelligence service allegedly set up to facilitate bounty payments in Afghanistan. The Times also named a key Afghan drug smuggler who they suspect played a central role as a middle man offering the Russian payments.

Rahmatullah Azizi, who the Times described as having been a low-level drug smuggler, eventually amassed a large fortune. Azizi is believed to have been a central figure in facilitating the payments.

As intelligence services investigated connections between Azizi and a potential bounty payment scheme, they carried out sweeping arrests of his family members and associates around six months ago. Azizi himself escaped custody, but security forces carrying out the arrest raids reportedly found around half a million dollars in cash in one of his homes.

Officials believe Azizi fled to Russia when he escaped the raids and Azizi reportedly held known ties to Russia prior to his discovery.

“The target of the operation was Rahmat, who was going back and forth to Russia for a long time and said he worked there but no one knew what he did,” Safiullah Amiry, the deputy head of the Kunduz provincial council told the Times.

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The Times initially reported that President Donald Trump was briefed about the bounty payments in late March.

Trump and intelligence officials within his administration have denied he received a direct briefing on the intelligence and the Pentagon has said they found no corroborating evidence on the bounty scheme.

So FTA we have:

Unnamed Afghan officials

Azizi, a low-level drug smuggler is a key suspect who played a central role as a middle man

While a 1/2 million USD was found in one of his homes, Azizi also saw business as a construction contractor who won contracts from American-led coalition forces

For more discrepancies and intell lapes, read the article here: American Military News

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Donald Trump, Media

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5th/77th FA

Oh hell, give me an effing break. He said/she said/they said/nobody said/the troops knew the job was dangerous when they took it. Whether the ruskies did or didn’t don’t really matter. To any Afghani we are an enemy and killing your enemy in any manner possible/bring every weapon to bear has been around since Cain/Abel and the rock.

Here’s two (2) novel ideas for the lawmakers, the Afghanis, the ruskies and anyone else that has a phuque to give. (1) Send the lawmakers on a fact finding mission to get to the bottom of it all. They can use the newly unemployed security folks from the CHAZ/CHOP crew to protect themselves.

(2) Get the phuque the hell out of there and let them SOBs continue to kill one another. They have been doing it for thousands of years, and they don’t need our help. That whole God Forsaken country ain’t worth one more drop of American blood or one more red cent of American money.

11B-Mailclerk

Private Snafu: Rumors

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-vaupcu2qqI

Why do folks insist on helping the Russians and Chinese to screw with our own people?

We should believe that NYT, who still proudly display a prize for denying the Holdomor? Seriously?

Roh-Dog

More importantly, what did Adam (piece of)Schiff know and when did he know it?
I’m not an intel guy but I do know that the value of unverified humint is usually approaching zero.

E4 Mafia '83-'87

I wonder if Schiff is waiting for Olga Buzova to confirm.

11B-Mailclerk
Roh-Dog

You nailed it.

MustangCryppie

Unless they targets were high value, the tell here is that the Rooskies would offer $100K per soldier. Hell, they could probably get away with giving them two goats.

rgr769

The D-rats and their Progda love any bogus, made-up Russia, Russia!! bullshit if they can use it against Trump. Unverified and uncorroborated intel reports are worthless. Relying on them causes decision makers to make bad decisions. This whole thing may be Ruskie agitprop/disinformation to undermine Trump. I imagine Vlad would much rather deal with a Biden toothless administration, since they know he can be bought, just like the Clintons.

MCPO USN

Bogus B/S. 100k per soldier? So Navy, Marines, Air Force are zero? What is the verification process? How do you claim your money, bring in ears that don’t smell like a goat?

Can’t say that underhanded Russians and mercs are not operating there, but as said above the bounty would be ten times less for extreme HVT’s and still be a fortune for those people.

How much do we pay for information on Taliban members? A goat and a chicken?

And Seth Moulton, Masshole idiot, needs to shut his piehole, immediately.

rgr769

He can’t help it; he is under orders from the Wicked Witch of the West, San Fran Nan, to flog this faux narrative. He knows she has the power to turn him into a toad. One thing you can say about the Demonrat politicos, they always follow orders from their leaders.

11B-Mailclerk

In a way, it is huge backhanded compliment, eh?

$100k each? Nice. If the -notoriously- parsimonious Russians are willing to spend one hundred large per man, they are terrified of them.

Note that the alleged retaliation for squashing the “mercenaries” was not a response in kind. Those folks were not dischargees from a Motorized Rifle Regiment. They were supposedly folks from Spetznaz and similar top-tier groups. Owned.

Ouch.

penguinman000

$40,000 in CERP funds would last months. And that was “free” money that didn’t involve killing anyone. We provided $$ to pave roads, establish an ice cream shop (war is hell sometimes) and pay for dogs we had to kill.

There is no way in hell there was a bounty of $100,000 for random Americans. I don’t doubt bounties were paid but it wasn’t $100k.

FuzeVT

Clearly, Trump’s inaction has killed billions of American service men and women [Biden math]. If only they would have been warned by the White House, those soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines would have been on their guard in Afghanistan. As it was, they were probably just walking around in and among the locals without a care in the world! If only he had acted. . .

CM

I smell yet another bullshit story to push a narrative with this issue. First it came from the NYT who lies about everything and they used their go to “sources” without providing any intel what so ever. I think this is a means for the media to put Russia back into the narrative close to the election.

Slow Joe

Its the New York Times trying to stop the end of the war in Afghanistan?

I thought the Dems were anti-war or sometin’.

Skyjumper

“some claims”, “unnamed”, “they believe”, “allegedly”,
“who they suspect”, “is believed”, “potential bounty payment”, “reportedly found”, “officials believe”, “reportedly held”……

Well there is some hard hitting, factual journalism from the New York Times. /s

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

nyt’s Hmm. Some trivia on bounties. During the battle of Monte Cassino, (WW2) the Brits had hired people of the North African tribe called Goumiers whom if you watched the film footage, these guys wore what looked like skirts and carried long knives. They were paid to go up the Mt. and take out any German’s in the way. To prove how many they killed, they cut off the ears and were paid on the amount of ears they had. So when things got calmer, US Army graves registration soldiers go up the Mt. and find both German and allied soldiers remains with an ear lopped off. Great business partners in a way.

Skyjumper

“Because of his track record (Chris Kyle)as a marksman during his deployment in Ramadi, the insurgents named Kyle Shaitan Ar-Ramadi (English: “The Devil of Ramadi”), and put a $20,000 bounty on his head that was later increased to $80,000. They posted signs highlighting the cross on his arm as a means of identifying him.”

Only $80,000? Guess Kyle wasn’t even trying since the Russians were offering $100K for just your average, ordinary, every day troop.

I wonder what the Taliban would get from Russia if they bagged a reporter named Ryan Morgan from the New York Times? A “used” goat and a three-legged dog?

Slow Joe

There is a great market for used goats in the middle east.

An entrepreneur could invest in Goatmax or Goatfax, and earn a good dividend. I hear they don’t have lemon laws over there.

And all of them dream of owning a good goat, doesn’t matter if brand new or used.

Of course, a goat with a 100,000 “miles” in it is not worth as much as a spanking new goat.

OWB

Have tried several times to figure out just what the story is here. I hear all the gasps and semi-hysteria, but cannot see an issue.

Let’s say for a moment that the story is true. What was Trump, or any other president, supposed to do about it?

Yeah, I even tried substituting another presidential name and still find no issue.

Evidently a lot of the same people looking everywhere for something to offend them expect certain people to become hysterical to prove that they are taking something seriously. Then it is fine to go on about one’s business as long as you have expressed sufficient hysteria. (Very similar to talking about stuff trumps actually quietly solving problems.)