No Script

Please Wait...

Ramadan Kareem...

Pentagon Says No Evidence to Corroborate Allegations About Russia’s ‘Deal’ With Taliban

Pentagon Says No Evidence to Corroborate Allegations About Russia’s ‘Deal’ With Taliban
folder_openUnited States access_time3 years ago
starAdd to favorites

By Staff, Agencies

The US War Department has no evidence to back up allegations about collusion between Russia and the Taliban, according to Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

“The Department of ‘Defense’ continues to evaluate intelligence that Russian GRU operatives were engaged in malign activity against the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan,” Hoffman said in a statement.

“To date, the DoD has no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations found in open-source reports. Regardless, we always take the safety and security of our forces in Afghanistan – and around the world – most seriously and therefore continuously adopt measures to prevent harm from potential threats.”

On Friday, The New York Times ran an article citing unnamed intelligence officials as claiming that US President Donald Trump had been told about [but did not react to] intelligence that Russia paid Taliban fighters to assassinate coalition troops in Afghanistan amid peace talks with the militant group last year.

Both Russia and the Taliban denied the accusations, which surfaced months after the Trump administration struck a peace deal with the militants that brought an end – at least, formally – to America’s longest war.

Trump maintained that neither he nor Vice President Mike Pence had been briefed on the alleged intelligence.

Nevertheless, the story was immediately weaponized by the Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is usually briefed on the most sensitive intelligence as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, said she too hadn’t been informed, and on Monday requested that all members of Congress be briefed on the matter soon.

Comments