Taliban reject claims Russia aided fighters in attacks on US troops

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The Taliban on Saturday rejected a newspaper report claiming their fighters had received rewards from Moscow’s spies to kill US troops in Afghanistan.
The New York Times reported on Friday that bounties offered by a notorious arm of Russia’s military intelligence service gave incentives to Taliban fighters to target US forces, just as US President Donald Trump tries to withdraw troops and end America’s longest war.
“The nineteen-year jihad of the Islamic Emirate is not indebted to the beneficence of any intelligence organ or foreign country,” the Taliban said in a statement issued in Kabul.
The group also denied previous US accusations it was given arms by Russia.
“The Islamic Emirate has made use of weapons, facilities and tools ... that were already present in Afghanistan or are war spoils frequently seized from the opposition in battles.” The Taliban said home-made explosives accounted for most of the casualties among US forces.
The group reiterated it was committed to an accord signed with Washington in February that paves the way for withdrawing all foreign forces from Afghanistan by mid next year.
Earlier on Saturday Russia also denounced the New York Times report.
The “baseless and anonymous accusations,” published by the newspaper, had “already led to direct threats to the life of employees of the Russian Embassies in Washington DC and London,” the Russian Embassy in Washing­­­ton wrote on Twitter.US intelligence has concluded that the Russian military offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops and other coalition forces, the *New York Times* reported on Friday.
Citing officials briefed on the matter, the Times said the United States determined months ago that a Russian military intelligence unit linked to assassination attempts in Europe had offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the newspaper said.
The White House, the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined requests from Reuters for comment on the Times report.
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the intelligence finding, the Times said. It said the White House has yet to authorise any steps against Russia in response to the bounties.
Of the 20 Americans killed in combat in 2019, the Times said, it was not clear which deaths were under suspicion.
After nearly 20 years of fighting the Taliban, the United States is looking for a way to extricate itself from Afghanistan and to achieve peace between the US-backed government and the militant group, which controls swathes of the country.
On Feb 29, the United States and the Taliban struck a deal that called for a phased US troop withdrawal.
US troop strength in Afghanistan is down to nearly 8,600, well ahead of a schedule agreed with the Taliban, in part because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, US and NATO officials said in late May.

Russia denounces 'baseless, anonymous accusations'

Russia on Saturday denounced the newspaper report as “baseless” and dangerous.
The “baseless and anonymous accusations,” published by the newspaper, had “already led to direct threats to the life of employees of the Russian Embassies in Washington DC and London,” the Russian Embassy in Washington wrote on Twitter.
“Stop producing #fakenews that provoke life threats, @nytimes,” it added in a later tweet.
“Stop producing #fakenews that provoke life threats, @nytimes,” it added in a later tweet.


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