Our @NewsHour report tonight on Russian bounty payments:
In April 2019, a bomb planted by the Taliban in this spot killed three U.S. Marines. And intelligence officials investigated whether this American blood was on Russian hands.
In April 2019, a bomb planted by the Taliban in this spot killed three U.S. Marines. And intelligence officials investigated whether this American blood was on Russian hands.
Last year Taliban believed to have received Russian military intelligence money to target US service members, former military and intelligence officials tell NewsHour. Payments discovered by info taken from Taliban leaders, when US found a large amount of US dollars during raid
It was a dramatic increase in Russian support to the Taliban that former US commander Gen. Nicholson first made public in 2018.
Former US intelligence officials say Russian involvement was always a collection priority. And it was always briefed up to senior levels: President Trump was part of briefings about Russian support before the U.S. signed a peace deal with the Taliban this past February.
And @JudyWoodruff then talked to @MacTXPress: “My default would be, if it's a threat to our troops, especially a state that is putting a bounty on the heads of our troops, yes, I would want to tell the president, and, yes, I would want to pursue it as vigorously as possible.”
“All of us ought to be a little bit careful about second-guessing because of all the things that are going in there. But, again, my view is, if it's a threat to U.S. troops or might be a threat to U.S. troops, that's got to rise to the top.”
“It would be a tragic mistake for us to further reduce our troop presence in Afghanistan, because that would only encourage more of these sorts of threats to come about.” pbs.org/newshour/show/…
