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The Russian bounty program is an alleged project of Russian military intelligence to pay bounties to
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
-linked militants for killing American and other allied service members during the
war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. The existence of the alleged program was reported in the media in 2020 and became an issue in the 2020 presidential election campaign. In June 2020, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' reported that intelligence suggesting the existence of a bounty operation dated to as early as 2018. The ''Washington Post'' and
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
both reported that
Trump administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...
White House officials were informed of the intelligence reports in early 2019. In June 2020, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed, several months earlier, that
Unit 29155 Unit 29155 is a Russian (GRU) unit tasked with foreign assassinations and other activities aimed at destabilizing European countries. The unit is thought to have operated in secret since at least 2008, though its existence only became publicly kno ...
of the Russian military intelligence agency
GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
had secretly offered Taliban-associated militants bounties to kill U.S. troops and other coalition personnel in Afghanistan, including during peace talks with the Taliban. ''The New York Times'' reported that "Officials said there was disagreement among intelligence officials about the strength of the evidence about the suspected Russian plot." Defense Department officials then reported that U.S.
military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
was unable to corroborate the reported program. In April 2021, the U.S. government reported that the
U.S. intelligence community The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
only had "low to moderate confidence" in the bounty program allegations.


Background

In 2010,
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
reportedly paid Taliban fighters $1,000 for each U.S. soldier they kill in Afghanistan (). U.S. and British officials have accused Iran of giving support and weapons to the
Taliban insurgency {{Infobox military conflict , partof = the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and the Afghanistan conflict , image = 2021 Taliban Offensive.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Map of the 2021 Taliban o ...
in Afghanistan. In August 2019, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' reported that Iran's "relationship with the Taliban now spans the economic, security and political realms and is likely to grow as the Taliban asserts itself again."
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
have been also accused of supporting Taliban.
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
initially supported the United States'
War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...
and agreed to provide logistic support for the United States forces in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. In May 2015, Russia closed a key military transport corridor which allowed NATO to deliver military supplies to Afghanistan through the Russian territory. Intelligence reports that Russia supplies arms to the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
have persisted for several years with contact in Northern Afghanistan beginning around 2015. Security officials from the United States and Afghanistan have previously determined that Russia provides financial support and arms to the Taliban and its leaders. Russian government officials have called the accusations baseless.
Carter Malkasian Carter Malkasian (born 1975) is a historian and former adviser to American military commanders in Afghanistan. Career Malkasian earned a doctorate in military history from the University of Oxford, where he studied under Robert O'Neill. After com ...
, a former adviser to U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan, said that Russia began cultivating relationships with "certain Taliban elements" in northern Afghanistan around 2015, ostensibly as a response to
Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
activity. According to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, Russia "is deeply concerned about the rise of Islamist fundamentalism in the region spreading in its direction. And it sees the Taliban as one potential bulwark against this." In February and again in May 2019, a delegation of Taliban officials and senior Afghan politicians met in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
to hold a new round of Afghan peace talks. Reuters reported that "Russian officials as well as religious leaders and elders had asked for a ceasefire."
Unit 29155 Unit 29155 is a Russian (GRU) unit tasked with foreign assassinations and other activities aimed at destabilizing European countries. The unit is thought to have operated in secret since at least 2008, though its existence only became publicly kno ...
is a covert unit of the
GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
tasked with foreign assassinations and other covert activities. The unit has been linked to the 2016
Montenegrin coup plot Montenegrin may refer to: * Adjective for anything related to Montenegro * Demonym referring to the people of Montenegro, see Demographics of Montenegro * Ethnonym, referring to Montenegrins, the ethnic group associated with Montenegro * Monteneg ...
, the poisoning of Bulgarian arms manufacturer
Emilian Gebrev The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
, and the
poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal On 4 March 2018, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were poisoned in the city of Salisbury, England. According to UK sources and the Organis ...
. In 2019, 23 American service members were killed during operations in Afghanistan. Ten U.S. service members died from gunfire or improvised explosive devices in 2018 and 16 in 2019. Another two were killed in 2020 prior to the February ceasefire and the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. Several of the soldiers were killed in green-on-blue attacks (attacks by members of Afghan security forces against coalition forces). In December 2019, the
Afghanistan Papers The ''Afghanistan Papers'' are a set of interviews relating to the war in Afghanistan undertaken by the United States military prepared by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) that was published by ''The Washington ...
revealed that high-ranking military and government officials were generally of the opinion that the war in Afghanistan was unwinnable, but kept this hidden from the public. According to the lawsuit, filed in December 2019 in the D.C. District Court on behalf of Gold Star families, major U.S. and international
defense contractors Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...
involved in Afghanistan made illegal "protection payments" to the Taliban, funding a "Taliban-led terrorist insurgency" that killed or wounded thousands of Americans in Afghanistan. A related lawsuit accused the Iranian government. In 2009, then-Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
said that the "protection money" was "one of the major sources of funding for the Taliban." On February 29, 2020, the Trump administration signed a conditional peace agreement with the Taliban, which calls for the withdrawal of foreign troops in 14 months if the Taliban uphold the terms of the agreement. In May 2020, President Trump said "it is time" to bring U.S. soldiers home from Afghanistan.


Intelligence gathering

Trump White House officials were first informed in early 2019 of intelligence reports regarding a Russian bounty program. Reports from Afghanistan-based U.S. Special Operations forces and intelligence officers that militants had been paid bounties in 2019 for their targeting of U.S. military personnel were raised in 2019 and 2020. The reports were based on interrogations of captured militants (including interrogations by the U.S. military), interrogations of captured criminals; and surveillance data. The accounts from Taliban militants "from opposite ends of the country and from separate tribes" were similar. Early on, intelligence agencies and analysts disagreed over the reliability of findings based on interrogations of the detainees. Intercepted electronic data showed large bank transfers to a Taliban-linked account from an account controlled by the GRU. Afghan officials said that several businessmen who transferred money through the
hawala Hawala or hewala ( ar, حِوالة , meaning ''transfer'' or sometimes ''trust''), also known as in Persian, and or in Somali, is a popular and informal value transfer system based on the performance and honour of a huge network of money b ...
system were suspected of being intermediaries for the bounty program and were arrested in raids. Around January 2020, a joint operation between US forces and the Afghan
National Directorate of Security prs, ریاست عمومی امنیت ملی , nativename_r = , seal = National Directorate of Security Logo.png , seal_width = , seal_caption = Seal of the National Directorate of Security , formed = , precedin ...
raided a Taliban outpost in
Kunduz , native_name_lang = prs , other_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Kunduz River valley.jpg , imagesize = 300 , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_ ...
. Thirteen people were arrested. One fled to
Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
while another, an Afghan drug lord Rahmatullah Azizi, was thought to have escaped to Russia. Security forces recovered around US$500,000 from Azizi's house in
Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
. According to the ''New York Times'', U.S. intelligence identified Azizi as a key middleman, collecting multiple cash payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Russia and distributing them to Taliban-linked militants. The raid heightened U.S. intelligence suspicion of a Russian financial link to the Taliban and related networks. Information on the bounty program was circulated in intelligence reports and two officials said that program was known by the region's
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
station chief A station chief is a government official who is the head of a team, post or function usually in a foreign country. Historically it commonly referred to the head of a defensible structure such as an ambassador's residence or colonial outpost. In G ...
as well as military forces tasked with engaging the Taliban. The CIA produced an intelligence assessment, reviewing and confirming the findings. The assessment concluded that Russian military operatives had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks on coalition forces in 2019. Rewards from the bounty program were thought to have been collected by Islamist militants or their criminal associates. Military officials also reviewed past combat casualties to determine whether any of the deaths could be attributed to the bounty program. Investigators focused on two attacks on U.S. troops, one of which was a bombing outside
Bagram Airfield Bagram Airfield-BAF, also known as Bagram Air Base , is located southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan. It is under the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Sitting on the site of the ancient Bagram at an elevation of above sea leve ...
in April 2019 that killed Marines Robert A. Hendriks, Benjamin S. Hines, and Christopher Slutman. Officials did not describe how military targets were selected or the exact manner by which militants were paid. The unnamed Afghan officials claimed the bounty program offered up to $100,000 for each American or coalition soldier killed.


Intelligence assessment

The existence of a Russian bounty program would mark an escalation of the ongoing
Second Cold War The Second Cold War, Cold War II, or the New Cold War are terms that refer to heightened political, social, ideological, informational, and military tensions in the 21st century. The term is used in the context of the tensions between th ...
and the first time GRU is known to have orchestrated attacks on Western military personnel. According to a ''New York Times'' report in July 2020, the Trump administration had sought to foster doubts about the existence of a Russian bounty program. The
National Intelligence Council The National Intelligence Council (NIC), established in 1979 and reporting to the Director of National Intelligence, bridges the United States Intelligence Community (IC) with policy makers in the United States. The NIC produces the "Global Tren ...
, which reported to Trump's director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, produced a two-and-a-half page memorandum stating that the CIA and
National Counterterrorism Center The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is a United States government organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. It is based in Liberty Crossing, a modern complex near Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia ...
assessed with "medium confidence" (i.e., "credibly sourced and plausible, but falling short of near certainty") that the
GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
had offered bounties, but that the
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
(NSA) and other Intelligence Community components said they "did not have information to support that conclusion at the same level" and thus had lower confidence in the conclusion. A separate ''Wall Street Journal'' report said that the NSA has "strongly dissented" from the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency assessments that the bounty plot is credible and real. The
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...
(DOD), in testimony in July 2020 to the
House Armed Services Committee The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee or HASC, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for funding and oversight of the Department of Defe ...
by General
Mark Milley Mark Alexander Milley (born June 20, 1958) is a United States Army general who serves as the 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He previously served as the 39th chief of staff of the Army from August 14, 2015 to August 9, 2019, and hel ...
, the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
and Defense Secretary
Mark Esper Mark Thomas Esper (born April 26, 1964) is an American politician and manufacturing executive who served as the 27th United States secretary of defense from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he had previously served as the 23rd ...
, said that U.S. defense intelligence agencies had no information to corroborate reports of a Russian bounty program in Afghanistan and lacked evidence of "cause and effect linkages to a Russian bounty program causing U.S. Military casualties." Upon taking office, Biden directed his administration to conduct a comprehensive review of U.S. policy toward Russia. The bounty reports were included in the review, along with other issues (such as the poisoning and imprisonment of Alexei Navalny, Russian efforts to interfere with the U.S. elections, and the SolarWinds cyberespionage attack).Lara Seligman
Duckworth urges Biden admin to release intel on Russian bounties
''Politico'' (March 1, 2021). In 2021, Senator
Tammy Duckworth Ladda Tammy Duckworth (born March 12, 1968) is an American politician and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel serving as the junior United States senator from Illinois since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented Ill ...
(Democrat of Illinois) asked
Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Commu ...
Avril Haines Avril Danica Haines (born August 27, 1969) is an American lawyer and senior government official who serves as the director of national intelligence in the Biden administration. She is the first woman to serve in this role. Haines previously ser ...
to publicly release a declassified U.S. Intelligence Community assessment of the Russian bounty intelligence in the interest of transparency. A spokesperson for the
U.S. National Security Council The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Exe ...
(NSC) said in an April 2021 statement that the United States Intelligence Community had "low to moderate confidence" in the existence of the Russian bounty program. In U.S. intelligence, "moderate confidence" means that that intelligence assessed the information as "plausible and credibly sourced, but not quite corroborated enough to merit a higher rating" and "low confidence" means the conclusion was "based on questionable or implausible information — or information too fragmented or poorly corroborated to make solid inferences". Officials said that the "low to moderate confidence" was attributable to the sources of the bounty information (Afghan detainees, financial records captured during a raid, and "information and evidence of connections to criminal agents in Afghanistan and elements of the Russian government"), which cannot be taken at face value, as well as an operating environment in Afghanistan that makes intelligence-gathering (to corroborate hypotheses) difficult. However, this same statement also said that U.S. intelligence had "high confidence" in a separate assessment that Russian military intelligence manages "interaction with individuals in Afghan criminal networks" in a way "consistent with Russia's encouraging attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan." Intelligence experts said that it is typical for intelligence to be murky.


Reporting

Citing unnamed sources, on June 26, 2020, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported on a Russian military program to pay bounties to
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
-linked militants for killing American soldiers in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. Two days later, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' reported that the bounty program had resulted in the death of at least one U.S. soldier. The ''Washington Post'' reported that "Several people familiar with the matter said it was unclear exactly how many Americans or coalition troops from other countries may have been killed or targeted under the program" and that the intelligence, obtained from U.S. military interrogations of captured Taliban-linked militants, had been "passed up from the U.S. Special Operations forces based in Afghanistan and led to a restricted high-level White House meeting" in late March 2020. The ''Times'' reported that American investigators had identified at least one attack they suspected of being thus incentivized: a car bombing on April 8, 2019 outside of
Bagram Airfield Bagram Airfield-BAF, also known as Bagram Air Base , is located southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan. It is under the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Sitting on the site of the ancient Bagram at an elevation of above sea leve ...
which killed three Marines and wounded three more, as well as injuring at least six Afghani citizens. On July 9, 2020, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr. and DOD intelligence agencies have not found a link between alleged Russian bounties and that specific attack.


Reactions


Afghanistan

Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban. Born in L ...
said that the country cannot be the venue for "big power plays" between world leaders, noting that this brought tragedy to the country in the 19th century and the late 20th century.


Russia

Russia has denied that the bounty program exists, issuing denials through Putin's spokesperson
Dmitry Peskov Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov ( rus, Дмитрий Сергеевич Песков, p=pʲɪˈskof; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat and the press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin.Russian Security Council The Security Council of the Russian Federation (SCRF or Sovbez; russian: Совет безопасности Российской Федерации (СБРФ), Sovet bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii (SBRF)) is a constitutional consultative bo ...
Secretary
Nikolai Patrushev Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev (russian: Никола́й Плато́нович Па́трушев; born 11 July 1951) is a Russian politician, security officer and intelligence officer who has served as the secretary of the Security Council of ...
, Russia's envoy to Afghanistan,
Zamir Kabulov Zamir Kabulov (russian: Замир Кабулов; born 22 June 1954) is a high rank career diplomat and Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan. He is the Special Representative for Afghanistan since 2022 Kabulov, who was born in Soviet Uzb ...
, and Russian lawmaker Frants Klintsevich, a member of
Federation Council The Federation Council (russian: Сове́т Федера́ции – ''Soviet Federatsii'', common abbreviation: Совфед – ''Sovfed''), or Senate (officially, starting from July 1, 2020) ( ru , Сенат , translit = Senat), is th ...
's defense and security committee. Russian diplomats accused the ''New York Times'' of spreading
fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...
and said that the story led to threats against Russian diplomats. The
Russian Foreign Ministry The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MFA Russia; russian: Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации, МИД РФ) is the central government institution charged with lea ...
said the story demonstrated the "low intellectual abilities of U.S. intelligence propagandists." Some Russian experts said that "U.S. intelligence about Russia has become completely detached from reality" and that the reports about bounties "serves only to fuel ... a political civil war between President Donald Trump and his opponents in Washington"; , director of the
Russian International Affairs Council The Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC, russian: Российский совет по международным делам) is a non-profit academic and diplomatic think tank established by the presidential decree dated 2 February 2010. ...
, which is affiliated with the Foreign Ministry, said that making payments to the Taliban would harm Russia's interests by hastening a U.S. retreat from the region and increasing the threat of extreme Islamist forces coming to power in Afghanistan, creating instability and insurrection in the former Soviet states of central Asia. However, according to interviews with Afghan officials, U.S. officials, and foreign diplomats who have served in
Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
, the Taliban, Russia and Iran, although historic adversaries, had a shared strategic interest in U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, with the Russians viewing the U.S. presence in
central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
as a strategic threat. U.S. intelligence officials said Russia began building a diplomatic channel to the Taliban around 2012. When Russia realized that the US intended leaving Afghanistan, it began working to help the moderate, nationalist factions of the Taliban prevail over the more radical wings. It aimed to move the peace process in a moderate direction through indirect links with the Taliban and, according to Russian experts, may also have "forged more confidential links".


Taliban

The Taliban denied that the bounty program exists, with Taliban spokesperson
Zabiullah Mujahid Zabihullah Mujahid ( ps, ; ''Ẕabīḥullāh Mujāhid'' ; also spelled Dhabih Allah Mujahid) is an Afghan official Central spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since 25 October 2021 and Deputy Ministry of Information and Culture si ...
saying that "our target killings and assassinations were ongoing in years before, and we did it on our own resources" without assistance from intelligence agencies.


United States


Trump administration

The
U.S. Intelligence Community The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
's assessment led to an interagency meeting of the
National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...
(NSC) at the Trump
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
in late March 2020. Government officials said the highest levels of the White House had been briefed on the bounty program and that the program had been included in the
President's Daily Brief The President's Daily Brief (PDB), sometimes referred to as the President's Daily Briefing or the President's Daily Bulletin, is a top-secret document produced and given each morning to the president of the United States; it is also distributed ...
in late February. A range of responses to Russia were discussed at the meeting, including registering a diplomatic complaint and a series of sanctions, but the
Donald Trump administration Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory o ...
did not authorize any response. While U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation
Zalmay Khalilzad Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad ( ps, ځلمی خلیل زاد, prs, زلمی خلیل‌زاد; born March 22, 1951) is an Afghan-American diplomat and foreign policy expert. Khalilzad was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to serve as U.S. Specia ...
advocated for directly confronting Russia, officials with the NSC were "more dismissive of taking immediate action". In the months that followed, officials said the bounty program had been "treated as a closely held secret". During the last week of June, expanded briefings were held and the British government was briefed. They were the only coalition member to be formally informed about the intelligence. Trump and his aides said that he had not been briefed on the intelligence. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe and White House press secretary
Kayleigh McEnany Kayleigh McEnany (; born April 18, 1988) is an American conservative political commentator and author who served the administration of Donald Trump as the 33rd White House press secretary from April 2020 to January 2021. Early in the 2016 Re ...
said that Trump had not received a briefing on the bounty program.
Richard Grenell Richard Allen Grenell (born September 18, 1966) is an American political operative, diplomat, TV personality, and public relations consultant who served as Acting Director of National Intelligence in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in 2020. ...
, who was acting DNI until May 2020, said that he had not been made aware of the bounty program. Trump called the bounty program "Fake News" and a hoax, and wrote on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that U.S. intelligence advised him that it had not reported the matter to him or
Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...
as it did not find the information credible. ''The New York Times'' said that "in denying that Mr. Trump was briefed, administration officials have been coy about how it is defining that concept and whether it includes both oral briefings and the President's Daily Brief." Two officials familiar with the matter said that Trump had received a written briefing in the President's Daily Brief on the Russian bounty intelligence in late February; McEnany said that Trump "was not personally briefed on the matter." Trump reportedly often does not read the President's Daily Brief, instead receiving a periodic oral briefing. Current and former intelligence officials said that even during in-person meetings, Trump "is particularly difficult to brief on national security matters" and "often relies instead on conservative media and friends for information." National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said that Trump's "career CIA briefer decided not to brief him because it was unverified intelligence" and noted that the U.S. receives many pieces of intelligence each week. McEnany said that "There is no consensus within the intelligence community on these allegations and in effect there are dissenting opinions from some in the intelligence community with regards to the veracity of what's being reported." NSC spokesperson John Ullyot said "the veracity of the underlying allegations continues to be evaluated." However, the ''New York Times'', citing two officials, reported on June 29 that "a description of the intelligence assessment that the Russian unit had carried out the bounties plot was also seen as serious and solid enough to disseminate more broadly across the intelligence community in a May 4 article in the C.I.A.'s World Intelligence Review." Democratic Congresswoman
Elissa Slotkin Elissa Blair Slotkin (born July 10, 1976) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from since 2023. She represented the from 2019 to 2023, before redistricting. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as a Ce ...
of Michigan—a former CIA analyst,
National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...
staff member, and intelligence briefer—said that in her experience in the
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and Obama White Houses, a piece of intelligence such as reported Russian bounties on U.S. troops would be considered sufficiently important to be shared with the president even if there were conflicting views among U.S. intelligence. Slotkin said it would be "deeply concerning" if senior staff failed to take such information to Trump despite his five recent phone calls with Putin.
Robert Cardillo Robert Cardillo is a Distinguished Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. Prior to this appointment, he was the sixth Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and was sworn in October 3, 201 ...
, a former senior U.S. intelligence official, and David Priess, a former CIA daily intelligence briefer and an author of a book on presidential intelligence briefings, both said that in previous administrations, presidents "received assessments on issues of potentially vital importance even if they had dissents from some analysts or agencies," and that such dissents were also raised to presidents "to help them understand uncertainties and the analytic process." Priess noted that uncertainties were inherent to the nature of intelligence. White House Chief of Staff
Mark Meadows Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 11th c ...
said that people would "go to jail" over the reports that allege Russia offered bounties to Taliban fighters. Meadows said "We know a crime was perpetrated... Whoever leaked thisthey didn't even leak the whole story... We're determined to get to the bottom of it, we don't have any intelligence that would support the reporting."
Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
, a member of Trump's legal team, called the leaker a "deep state criminal who committed a serious crime... I can't think of a worse crime. It's not quite treason but comes close." In June 2020,
Mark Milley Mark Alexander Milley (born June 20, 1958) is a United States Army general who serves as the 20th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He previously served as the 39th chief of staff of the Army from August 14, 2015 to August 9, 2019, and hel ...
, the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
, testified before the
House Armed Services Committee The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee or HASC, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for funding and oversight of the Department of Defe ...
that, while no link of such a program to U.S. casualties had been found, the U.S. was still investigating and would "take action" if the bounty program is proven to be true. Defense Secretary
Mark Esper Mark Thomas Esper (born April 26, 1964) is an American politician and manufacturing executive who served as the 27th United States secretary of defense from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he had previously served as the 23rd ...
said that General Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, and General Scott Miller, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, did not think "the reports were credible as they dug into them." McKenzie said that he found no "causative link" between reported bounties to actual U.S. military deaths, but said the reports were "very worrisome" and said a lack of proof is "often true in battlefield intelligence." In September 2020, McKenzie said that the existence of a Russian bounty "has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me" but that the military continued to seek evidence and considered the matter "not a closed issue."


Congress

Trump never raised the bounty allegations in his conversations with Russian President
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
,Charlie Savage
White House Warns Russia on Bounties, but Stops Short of Sanctions
''New York Times'' (April 15, 2021). prompting criticism from Democrats and some Republicans. Many foreign policy experts said that the U.S. administration should have raised the issue with the Russian government, even if definitive proof was lacking. Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...
criticized Trump, saying: "This is as bad as it gets, and yet the president will not confront the Russians on this score, denies being briefed." Pelosi referred to Trump's proposals to bring Russia back into the G8, from which Russia was expelled following the annexation of Crimea on March 24, 2014. Pelosi and
Senate Minority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding ...
Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
called for all members of Congress to be briefed on the matter. The White House gave briefings on its position in June 2020 to a group of eight House Republicans allied to the administration. Among congressional Republicans, Senator
Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Carolina, a seat he has held since 2003. A member of the Republican Party, Graham chaired the Senate Committee ...
and Representatives
Liz Cheney Elizabeth Lynne Cheney (; born July 28, 1966) is an American attorney and politician who has been the U.S. representative for since 2017, with her term expiring in January 2023. She chaired the House Republican Conference, the third-highest p ...
and
Dan Crenshaw Daniel Reed Crenshaw (born March 14, 1984) is an American politician and former United States Navy SEAL officer serving as the United States representative for Texas's 2nd congressional district since 2019. The district includes parts of northe ...
expressed outrage at the news and asked for an explanation, while Representative
Adam Kinzinger Adam Daniel Kinzinger (; born February 27, 1978) is an American politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for . The district covers eastern Rockford, Illinois, Rockford, most of Rockford's suburbs, and ...
called on Trump to stop the alleged "shadow war" Russia is waging. Other congressional Republicans defended Trump, including House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician, serving as Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Rep ...
. On July 1, 2020, the
House Armed Services Committee The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee or HASC, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for funding and oversight of the Department of Defe ...
overwhelmingly voted in favor of an amendment to restrict Trump's ability to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Rep.
Seth Moulton Seth Wilbur Moulton (born October 24, 1978) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 6th congressional district since 2015. A former Marine Corps officer, he is a member of the Democratic Party. After gra ...
stated: "Now we learned that
rump Rump may refer to: * Rump (animal) ** Buttocks * Rump steak, slightly different cuts of meat in Britain and America * Rump kernel, software run in userspace that offers kernel functionality in NetBSD Politics *Rump cabinet * Rump legislature * Ru ...
was making eace deal with the Talibanat the same time as there were bounties on the heads of American troops, American sons and daughters. We clearly need more oversight over what the president is doing in Afghanistan."


Biden administration

In 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden, while campaigning for the presidency, criticized Trump for failing "to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law" and said the Trump has "continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin." Biden further cited Trump's lack of response as proof that Trump's "entire presidency has been a gift to Putin" and promised if he is elected, "Putin will be confronted and we'll impose serious costs on Russia." On January 25, 2021, four days after Biden had taken office as president and begun receiving more detailed intelligence briefings, he modulated his comments, referring to "reports of bounties." In April 2021, the administration released a fact sheet saying that CIA analysts had "low to moderate confidence" in the existence of a bounty program but had "high confidence" that Russian military intelligence worked with Afghan criminal networks which "is consistent with Russia's encouraging attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan." The intelligence was based on “detainee reporting”. The document said: "The administration is responding to the reports that Russia encouraged Taliban attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan based on the best assessments from the Intelligence Community. Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels." White House Press Secretary
Jen Psaki Jennifer Rene Psaki (; born c. 1978) is an American television political analyst who currently works for MSNBC. Previously, she was a political advisor who served under both the Obama and Biden administrations. Immediately prior to working for ...
called upon "Russia and the Russian government to explain their engagement here." In April 2021, the Biden administration imposed sanctions against Russian entities and individuals for "carrying out Russian government-directed attempts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and other acts of disinformation and interference"; for Russian actions in Crimea, and for the SolarWinds cyberespionage attack, but the administration was careful to clarify that the sanctions were not being imposed for bounties.


Others

David B. Rivkin David Boris Rivkin, Jr. (born 1956) is an American attorney, political writer, and conservative media commentator on matters of Constitutional law, constitutional and international law, as well as foreign and defense policy. Rivkin has gained na ...
wrote that "this kind of scalp-hunting would be an unprecedented escalatory act. Even at the height of the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, both the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and the United States refrained from such activity, despite engaging enthusiastically in
proxy warfare A proxy war is an armed conflict between two states or non-state actors, one or both of which act at the instigation or on behalf of other parties that are not directly involved in the hostilities. In order for a conflict to be considered a pr ...
in theaters around the world." Former Secretary of State
Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...
argued that the news media overreacted to the reports, saying "What I know is that our military commanders on the ground did not think that it was as serious a problem as the newspapers were reporting".


U.S. public opinion

A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll conducted in July 2020 found that 60% of Americans said they found Russian bounty program to be "very" or "somewhat" believable. 54% of those polled wanted to impose more sanctions on Russia, while 9% supported military attacks on the
Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...
, 29% did not know, and "9% wanted to move on and try to improve relations with Russia".


United Kingdom

British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
was briefed on the alleged bounty program. He has not released the parliamentary
Intelligence and Security Committee The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) is a statutory joint committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, appointed to oversee the work of the UK intelligence community. The committee was established in 1994 by the ...
's report on Russian interference in British politics.
Tobias Ellwood Tobias Martin Ellwood (born 12 August 1966) is a British Conservative Party politician and soldier who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bournemouth East since 2005. He has chaired the Defence Select Committee since 2020 and was a G ...
, the chair of the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
Commons Defence Select Committee, sought to raise an urgent question in the House of Commons on the matter, to obtain an explanation from a government minister.


Other alleged bounty programs targetting U.S. soldiers

Iran was accused of offering bounties for American soldiers later in 2020. U.S. intelligence assessed that Iran (which has often used proxies to carry out attacks in the Middle East) had made payments to the
Haqqani network The Haqqani network is an Afghan Islamist group, built around the family of the same name, that has used asymmetric warfare in Afghanistan to fight against Soviet forces in the 1980s, and US-led NATO forces and the Islamic Republic of Afghanis ...
linked to at least six of the network's attacks in 2019 including the sophisticated attack at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, on December 11, 2019. U.S. intelligence said that the Haqqani network would probably target U.S. troops even without payment, but that funding associated with the Bagram attack "probably incentivizes future high-profile attacks on US and Coalition forces." According to CNN, the Trump's administration has "never mentioned Iran's connection to the bombing, an omission current and former officials said was connected to the broader prioritization" of the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement and withdrawal from Afghanistan. The alleged Iran-Taliban ties were cited as part of the justification for the
assassination of Qasem Soleimani On 3 January 2020, Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, was killed by a U.S. drone strike at Baghdad International Airport. The drone targeted and killed Soleimani while he was on his way to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi i ...
by the U.S.. Separately, there have been uncorroborated reports that the Chinese government offered bounties to pay for attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan. It was not clear whether any intelligence indicated that any bounties were actually paid or whether any associated attacks were attempted. U.S. President Donald Trump was reportedly briefed about the unverified intelligence, despite dismissing reports (deemed more credible by U.S. security experts) about Russian bounties that had been offered.


See also

*
United States military casualties in the War in Afghanistan There were 2,402 United States military deaths in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021). 1,921 of these deaths were the result of hostile action. 20,713 American servicemembers were also wounded in action during the war. In addition, 18 Central In ...
*
Afghanistan Papers The ''Afghanistan Papers'' are a set of interviews relating to the war in Afghanistan undertaken by the United States military prepared by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) that was published by ''The Washington ...
*
Afghan War documents leak The Afghan War documents leak, also called the Afghan War Diary, is the disclosure of a collection of internal U.S. military logs of the War in Afghanistan, which were published by WikiLeaks on 2010. The logs consist of over 91,000 Afghan War do ...
*
Operation Cyclone Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1992, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in suppor ...


References

{{Russia–United States relations 2019 in Afghanistan 2020 in Afghanistan 2020 controversies in the United States Allegations Anti-Americanism GRU Military assassinations Russia–United States military relations Taliban Trump administration controversies War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) War on terror Afghanistan–Russia relations