The head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), General Kenneth Mackenzie, doubts that the so-called “conspiracy of Russia with the Taliban” led to the deaths of US troops.
“I found this very alarming, but I just didn’t find a causal relationship there <…> I didn’t confirm the intelligence information. It was not confirmed enough”, – the ABC television quoted him as saying.
According to the general, in this case the information was not enough even for him to order an in-depth verification.
“I think they’re continuing to dig it now, but I just didn’t see enough to think that the circle was closed there”, – Mackenzie added.
He noted that the US forces in Afghanistan have always been the target of attacks by armed groups, although this ceased after agreements were reached with the radical Taliban movement.
Earlier, the New York Times, citing anonymous sources, published an article alleging that Russian military intelligence offered rewards to Taliban-linked militants for attacks on American soldiers in Afghanistan and that Donald Trump was informed about this. No evidence was provided.
The embassy in the United States demanded that the country’s authorities respond adequately to the threats that come to the diplomats due to news about Russia and Afghanistan. The Foreign Ministry called the media reports fake. The White House, the Pentagon and the US intelligence said that there is currently no confirmation of the reports, and Trump was not informed about them.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the publication of the New York Times, expressed regret that once the largest and most respected world media did not shun such ducks. He added that alleging collusion is a lie.
At the same time, Trump said that the whole story was invented in order to harm him and the Republican Party.
*-banned in Russia