“Russia offered bounties to Afghan militants to kill US troops” - TTG

(CNN) - Russian intelligence officers for the military intelligence GRU recently offered money to Taliban militants in Afghanistan as rewards if they killed US or UK troops there, a European intelligence official told CNN.

The official was unclear as to the precise Russian motivation, but said the incentives had, in their assessment, led to coalition casualties. The official did not specify as to the date of the casualties, their number or nationality, or whether these were fatalities or injuries. "This callous approach by the GRU is startling and reprehensible. Their motivation is bewildering," the official said.

This story was first reported by the New York Times.

US intelligence concluded months ago that Russian military intelligence offered the bounties, amid peace talks, the New York Times reported Friday. Citing officials briefed on the matter, the Times reported that President Donald Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings and that the White House's National Security Council held a meeting about it in late March.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement Saturday that the President and Vice President Mike Pence were not briefed "on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence." McEnany said her statement "does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of the New York Times story," which said Trump had been briefed. McEnany did not deny the validity of the reported US intelligence that a Russian intelligence unit offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to carry out attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan  (CNN)

————

Russia denies the story in its entirety. That’s to be expected. The Washington Post, Wall sStreet Journal, CNN and Sky News back up the NYT reporting through their sources. The White House doesn’t deny the intelligence reporting, but denies Trump was in the loop. McEnany’s insistence that Trump is clueless about this is either a damning indictment of the Trump administration or a damned lie. Either way, it’s not good. At any rate, it does appear this is another serious leak of classified information within the White House. That’s also not good.

So was Trump kept in the dark by his NSC? Did he just refuse to believe the IC reporting? Or did he not know whether to shit or go blind? Did he decide to keep this out of the public eye and quietly confront Putin about this episode in the continuing shadow war. That would be a reasonable response. Totally unsatisfying to me, our military and most of the American public, but reasonable from a realpolitik point of view.

Russia’s alleged action is not near as heinous as it may sound. Remember, we supported and supplied the Mujahideen with weapons to kill Soviet soldiers while they were in the process of withdrawing from Afghanistan. It does show that Russia is not our friend and Putin is not Trump’s friend. It doesn’t mean we have to go to war with each other, but we should realize our relationship is not akin to a herd of glitter fartin’ unicorns prancing across the rainbow bridge. 

TTG

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/27/politics/russia-us-troops-afghanistan/index.html

Comments

[Richard Tubbs]

Mid-March would be during Ric Grenelle's tenure and he's pushing back pretty hard on twitter. Sounds like our European friends stirring up more shit.

[blue peacock]

After Iraq WMD and Russia Collusion, we should ask for real evidence instead of the "top intelligence sources". And we should not buy we can't provide any evidence because of sources & methods.

Be skeptical of anything published by Pravda on the Hudson and Pravda on the Potomac when it comes to intelligence matters. Especially months before a general election.

[Fred]

On to Moscow! Where's Bomb'n Bolton when we need him?
"a European intelligence official told CNN."..... "The official did not specify as to the date of the casualties, their number or nationality, or whether these were fatalities or injuries."

So, unknown official, unknown date, unknown if there were any actual casualties.

"The US concluded that the GRU was behind the interference in the 2016 US election and cyberattacks against the Democratic National Committee and top Democratic officials."

Quick, someone tell the House Impeachment Inquiry Committee! Oh, wait, that was Ukraine. What did Mueller collude, I mean conclude, about that Russian interference?

Let me quote the former acting DNI:
"You clearly don’t understand how raw intel gets verified. Leaks of partial information to reporters from anonymous sources is dangerous because people like you manipulate it for political gain."
https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1277024942232530945
I believe he was tweeting that to the press, but then they are doing this for political reasons. Lockdowns and socialist revolutionary riots must not be working in the left's favor. I wonder why?

[Aurelius]

Why does this surprise anyone? It was ever thus...

[JamesT]

Putin claims that US intelligence agencies provided material support to terrorist groups (aka freedom fighters) in Chechnya (I presume during the first and second Chechyan wars). He hasn't provided any proof, but I think he genuinely believes it.

[Leith]

We did something similar to them back in the 80s. Maybe not specifically paying assassins, but arming and supporting jihadis is close enough. So why would we be surprised that they would reciprocate. Or perhaps it is payback for the Battle of Kasham back in February 2018?

I doubt Trump was not briefed. If he wasn't then it would have been a complete cockup and dereliction of duty by Grenelle and PomPom, as well as Esper, General Milley, and General Miller.

Stars and Stripes has also published the story. I bet it will be in the next edition of Army Times.

[The Twisted Genius]

Fred,

The Mueller Report emphatically concluded that Russian interference in the 2016 election was “sweeping and systemic.” Major attack avenues included a social media “information warfare” campaign that “favored” candidate Trump and the hacking of Clinton campaign-related databases and release of stolen materials through Russian-created entities and Wikileaks. None of that is impeachable. Who would Congress impeach?

The Republican led Senate Intel Committee also concluded the January 2017 ICA was correct and included specific intelligence reporting to support its assessment. Burr also said the ICA reflected strong tradecraft and sound analytical reasoning. Nothing in that was impeachable, either.

What Russia does or doesn't do has nothing to do with impeachment. What Trump does or doesn't do doesn't necessarily result in an impeachable offense, either. It could be a pursuing a different policy, which is his prerogative, or it could be stupefying incompetence.

[Yeah, Right]

On a practical note, how was a Taliban soldier militant meant to verify his claim to a bounty?

I assume that scalping was not a feasible option, but if you are going to offer a bounty then you are going to want proof that the person claiming that bounty did, indeed, do the job.

So if a coalition soldier died on *this* day how was a Talibani supposed to confirm to the GRU that "Yep, I did that. Where's my money?"

[J]

Biden has chimed in on let's use this to beat Trump over the head with.

[R Caudell]

How much did Burgdahl make?

https://media1.tenor.com/images/9ea85cbf47e9f1ebfc95f1b97bcdea8c/tenor.gif?itemid=5440093

[David Habakkuk]

TTG,

You cannot, particularly given the recent record alike of Western intelligence agencies and our MSM, refer to a claim about the GRU as ‘alleged’, and then treat it as fact, and on that basis go on to draw large conclusions about Putin’s objectives, with radical implications for what represents a prudent policy for the United States.

It seems that the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ approach to intelligence analysis and policy, which I discussed in a post three years ago, is not dead.

(See https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/04/sentence-first-verdict-afterwards-a-revision-by-david-habakkuk-14-april-2017.html )

[Paco]

Who could really think that after 18 years of war the afghans need any payment or encouragement to target and murder the invaders? Puerility is rampant, when the cookie jar is empty.

[ancientarcher]

TTG, I think you are being led away from the truth by your significant bias against Russia. Those with a blinkered vision see only what they want to see. No mystery there.

Now you want to portray NYT as the paragon of truth telling!! Haven't we seen enough examples of the lying by Jewish owned neocon media, especially the Times? Now that the Russia-gate fire is nearly put out, these guys are pumping this story.
You really need to understand the depth of hatred the Jews have for Russia and Russians that makes them like this. That's the only country /civilisation that got away from their grasp just when they thought have got it. Not once, but twice in the last century.

But then isn't your ancestry from Lithuania. Your hatred is strong. I get that - I see that all time with people from the ex-Soviet republics formerly ruled by Russia. Hope others see that too.

[Jus,Thinkin]

The glitter farting unicorns on the rainbow bridge was great!

[turcopolier]

TTG et al
When someone like Trump says he has a good relationship with you or even a GREAT relationship with you that means he thinks he can make a deal with you. It does not mean that he actually thinks you are his friend.

[Barbara Ann]

Regardless of its veracity, this story will definitely hit Trump where it hurts - chapeau to the individual(s) who conceived this work of fiction, if indeed it is so.

Again, whether or not performance bonuses* were actually offered by the GRU, has anyone considered that this may still be a Russian Intelligence op?

Perhaps we should first ask whether the Kremlin wants to deal with a US under another 4 years of Trump. From their FP POV, the huge uncertainty and instability they see in the US now will surely be ramped up to a whole new level, in the event that he is re-elected. And of course all hope that Trump may be able to improve the relationship with Russia was dashed long ago, by Russiagate and the ongoing Russophobia among the Borg. Jeffrey's mission in Syria is a case in point. At least the US Deep State is the devil they know.

If the answer to the above question is "no" it must surely be a trivial matter for the GRU to feed such a damaging story to Trump's enemies in the USIC.

* "bounties" is an emotive word, useful to Trump's enemies, evoking individual pay for an individual death - real personal stuff. As others have pointed out the practicality of such a scheme seems improbable. Surely it is more likely that any such incentive pay would be for the group, upon coalition casualties confirmed in the aftermath of an attack. The distinction may not seem important, but the Resistance media can be relied upon to use language designed to inflict the most harm.

[Flavius]

'Intel' without evidence is "bunk". Have we learned nothing from Chrissy Steele and the Russiagate fiasco - I know a guy who knows a guy who said... the Russians are bad and Donald Trump is an a......e. Bob Mueller and 18 pissed off democrats have concluded that the Russians are systemically bad and Donald Trump is an a......e. 4 months before a Presidential election intel sources have revealed to the NYT that the Russians are very very bad and Donald Trump is an a......e. Ah yes, the New York Ridiculously Self Degraded Times has broken another important story. I wonder why? Enough already...and yes, we have made a systemic laughing stock of ourselves.
Oh, and remind me again of why we've been staying around Kabul - something about improving the lot of women, or gays, or someone?

[Diana Croissant]

I'm personally not ready to "duck and cover" after reading this.

I have accepted the fact that Russia is no longer the Soviet Union. I am watching television news at night but no longer see the clock ticking as I turn it off and go to sleep. So far, no one I know has taken to building a fallout shelter in his back yard.

I want an answer to this question: Whatever happened to the pillow and blanket I had to bring to school and store in the school's basement in case we all had to retreat there and be locked down in it during the bombing? Who do I go to to get reparations for the cost of those items? (I was never given the opportunity to retrieve them when I graduated.) Did Khrushchev have to take his shoe to a cobbler after using it to pound on the table while threatening to bury us?

[Babak makkinejad]

TTG

The rebuttal from Russia.

Which raises the ante by making very very serious accusations of drug trade by US Intelligence.

https://tass.com/russia/1172369/amp?__twitter_impression=true

[Charlie Wilson]

I think the killing of soldiers should be strictly forbidden. Only civilians should be targeted. It is easier and no one gives a shit.

[Fred]

TTG,

Mueller concluded that the Obama administration and the Hilary campaign were defeated by “sweeping and systemic.” interference of the Russians? Why again did the DOJ dropped charges on the "trolls" - no actual evidence that would need to be produced in court or was that just more proof of OMB being on the take? That social media campaign, is that like the one that just interfered in the US election by obtaining tickets to the Trump rally in Tulsa and then not showing up because thousands were not US citizens and not in the US? Or is that OK and but advertisements that cost less than George Floyd's rent which were seen almost no one yet somehow managed to swing an election? If that's the case why isn't Hilary running again, she won more votes than Biden ever did or will.

[The Twisted Genius]

Babak,

There's a rich history of stories about USI involvement in the drug trade. CIA was involved in the heroin trade during the Viet Nam War. The Iran-Contra mess involved selling Columbian cocaine to help finance Nicaraguan anti-Communist rebels. US involvement in the Afghanistan drug trade has been talked about for years. As I said, there are no glitter fartin' unicorns here.

[Babak makkinejad]

TTG

The Iranian statistics do not lie. Transhipment of drugs across Iran from Afghanistan has been increasing since the American invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.

The US Office of Foreign Asset Control, the US DIA, the CIA etc. are powerless to do anything about that but are, evidently, all powerfull against USD transactions of the Iranian government.

[srw]

So I am to believe that "Putin the Poisoner", ex KGB officer would not put a bounty on allied troops in Afghanistan?

[The Twisted Genius]

Fred,

The DOJ only dropped charges against two of Prigozhin's companies. The case against the IRA and 13 trolls still stands. Prigozhin was able to use Concord's business status and his lawyers' "client, not client" status to dig out evidence on the case without exposing himself to the court. His strategy was both brilliant and cynical.

The K-pop and Tik-Tok trolling of Parscale and the Trump rally was brilliant and cost not a dime. It didn't limit the attendance of the rally since sign up was not limited. It did screw up Parscale's data collection and tricked him into believing there was more enthusiasm for Trump that there actually was. It embarrassed him and Trump. And yes, this methodology is closely related to what the Russians did in 2016 except the Tik-Tok trolling was masterminded by a 51 year old Iowan grandmother rather than a former Russian KGB officer.