MOSCOW: Media reports citing US intelligence assessments alleging thatRussian intelligence has solicited killings of US troops by the Taliban inAfghanistan are yet another fake news pursing to disrupt the Afghan peaceprocess, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
“We have paid attention to yet another fake news, released into media spaceby the US intelligence about Russian military intelligence’s allegedinvolvement in contracted killings of US troops in Afghanistan. This bluntstory vividly illustrates the low intellectual abilities of USintelligence’s propaganda staff, who instead of making up something moreelaborate has come up with such nonsense”, the Russian Foreign Ministryrepresentative told journalists, adding that “on the other hand, what elseone can expect from the intelligence that has miserably failed to succeedin the 20-year war in Afghanistan.”
According to the diplomat, it has become a commonly known fact that the USintelligence community has established a whole network of alternativeincome sources while on service in Afghanistan, including drug trafficking,charging militants for passage of vehicle caravans, and kickbacks onmilitary contracts payed for by the US taxpayers’ money.
“Maybe the US spies are not happy about the fact that our [Russian] andtheir [US] diplomats together promote peace talks between Kabul and theTaliban? Their feelings are understandable — they just do not want to loosethe mentioned illegal sources of income”, the Foreign Ministryrepresentative said.
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On Friday, The New York Times published an article where it cited unnamedgovernment sources as saying that US President Donald Trump was presentedwith an intelligence report that claimed that Moscow could have payedbounty to armed Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan to assassinate USsoldiers. The outlet said Trump had so far failed to act on the report.
In February, the US and the Taliban signed a peace deal that concludedrounds upon rounds of talks pursuing to launch the reconciliation processin Afghanistan after almost two decades of armed conflict and insurgency.
