Intelligence that Afghan militants might have accepted Russian bounties for killing American troops did not scuttle the US-Taliban agreement or President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw thousands more troops from the war.
It did give critics of the deal another reason to say the Taliban shouldn’t be trusted.
The bounty information was included in Trump’s president’s daily intelligence brief on Feb. 27, according to intelligence officials, and two days later, the US and Taliban signed an agreement in Qatar.
The agreement clears the way for America to end 19 years in Afghanistan and gives Trump a way to make good on his promise to end US Involvement in what he calls “ endless wars.”
On March 3, three days after the agreement was signed, the president had a 35-minute phone call with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban and head of their political office in Qatar.