Several U.S. military personnel were killed as a result of bounties Russia put on American soldiers in Afghanistan, according to a new report.
The Washington Post reported Sunday evening that U.S. intelligence shows that the bounties, which Russia offered to militants with ties to the Taliban, led to multiple U.S. deaths.
The Post noted that the U.S. military lost 10 soldiers in Afghanistan to hostile gunfire or bombs in 2018, and in 2019 the number was 16. Two service members have been killed this year.
The news outlet cited people familiar with the situation who said it wasn't clear how many American and coalition troops died or were targeted as a result of the bounties. The sources said the White House was briefed on the matter in late March after it made its way up the chain of command in Afghanistan.
The CIA, according to the report, verified the initial intelligence that claimed a secret Russian military unit had issued bounties on U.S. and coalition troops operating in Afghanistan. Officials in Washington could not agree on how to respond.
President Donald Trump said Sunday neither he nor Vice President Mike Pence were briefed on the situation earlier this year.
The intelligence assessments came amid Trump's push to withdraw the U.S. from Afghanistan, and suggested that Russia was making overtures to militants as the U.S. and the Taliban were holding talks to end the long-running war. The assessment was first reported by The New York Times and then confirmed to The Associated Press by American intelligence officials and two others with knowledge of the matter.
There were conflicting reports about whether Trump was aware of Russia's actions. The intelligence officials told the AP that the president was briefed on the matter earlier this year; Trump denied that, tweeting on Sunday that neither he nor Vice President Mike Pence had been briefed.
The intelligence officials and others with knowledge of the matter insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the highly sensitive matter.
The White House National Security Council would not confirm the assessments, but said the U.S. receives thousands of intelligence reports daily that are subject to strict scrutiny.
Russia called the report "nonsense."
"This unsophisticated plant clearly illustrates the low intellectual abilities of the propagandists of American intelligence, who instead of inventing something more plausible have to make up this nonsense," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
A Taliban spokesman said the militants "strongly reject this allegation" and are not "indebted to the beneficence of any intelligence organ or foreign country."
John Bolton, a former national security adviser who was forced out by Trump last September and has now written a tell-all book about his time at the White House, said Sunday that "it is pretty remarkable the president's going out of his way to say he hasn't heard anything about it. One asks, why would he do something like that?"
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.