Russias GRU military intelligence agency paid 10s of millions of dollars to militant groups in Afghanistan to target U.S., allied and Afghan military forces in the years leading up to the U.S.
withdrawal from the country, according to a report by The Insider investigative outlet released Wednesday.The Insiders findings substantiate a 2020 report by The New York Times, citing U.S.
authorities, that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to kill U.S.-led union troops in Afghanistan.
Washington later on saidit had low to moderate self-confidence in the claims, while Moscow rejected the reports.The Insider pointed out anonymous former Afghan intelligence (NDS) authorities as stating that the years-long GRU-Taliban program paid approximately $200,000 per eliminated U.S.
or union soldier, with smaller payments for killed Afghan troops.Russias overall payment to the Taliban through the operation amounted to roughly $30 million, one former NDS official estimated.The outlet linked the operation to GRU Unit 29155, which has apparently been behind numerous poisonings, battles and other hidden destabilization efforts in the West.Unit 29155 apparently recruited a minimum of three networks of Afghan nationals to serve as intermediaries between it and prohibited armed groups in Afghanistan.The program was said to have begun with a minimum of 2015 and kicked into high equipment around 2016, when Donald Trump was chosen to his first term as president.Following the 2020 New York Times report, Democrats indicated the reports as proof that then-President Trump was failing to stand up to Russia.But apart from the concern being brought up throughout a January 2021 call between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, the U.S.
did not take particular action against Russia over the reported operation.Six former CIA officers who have evaluated the intelligence on the GRUs Afghan operations informed The Insider that the findings complement and magnify what has been the traditional wisdom of the U.S.
intelligence neighborhood over the past four years a conventional knowledge that has frequently been undermined or occluded by politicized agendas.There are many instances when we got punched in the face and were told to do absolutely nothing about it for fear of escalation, one former CIA officer told the outlet.
This was one.The U.S.
completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 in a disorderly pull-out that drew derision from Russia.
The Taliban swept to power not long after Afghanistans U.S.-backed government collapsed.Moscow has considering that strengthened its partnership with the Taliban in spite of the groups status as a banned terrorist organization in Russia.The Insider declared that the GRU officer in charge of the GRU-Taliban program continues to act as an important backchannel interlocutor negotiating intelligence and military cooperation between Moscow and Kabul.A number of other operatives associated with the operation were given Russian passports and identities following the U.S.
withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Insiders investigative partner Der Spiegel found that some remained in Russia, while others settled in India and even western Europe.