Intel Officials Warned White House About Russia-Taliban Plot

Intelligence officials claim to have warned Donald Trump about a Russia-Taliban bounty plot targeting American troops.

White House officials had knowledge of Russia secretly offering bounties to the Taliban in Afghanistan for the death of Americans. A whole year earlier than what was previously reported.

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The report was filed in one of President Donald Trump’s daily intel briefings at the time. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton told officials he briefed Trump on the intelligence in March 2019.

The White House has been dodging questions about Trump or other officials’ awareness of Russia’s actions in 2019. The White House is claiming Trump has not been briefed on the intelligence because it has not been fully verified.

Bolton declined to comment Monday when asked by the AP if he’d briefed Trump about the matter in 2019. On Sunday, he suggested to NBC that Trump was claiming ignorance of Russia’s provocations to justify his administration’s lack of response.

“He can disown everything if nobody ever told him about it,” Bolton said.

The revelations cast new doubt on the White House’s efforts to distance Trump from the Russian intelligence assessments. The AP reported Sunday that concerns about Russian bounties also were in a second written presidential daily briefing this year and that current national security adviser Robert O’Brien had discussed the matter with Trump. O’Brien denies doing that.

On Monday, O’Brien said that while the intelligence assessments regarding Russian bounties “have not been verified,” the administration has “been preparing should the situation warrant action.”

The administration’s earlier awareness of the Russian efforts raises additional questions about why Trump didn’t take punitive action against Moscow for efforts that put the lives of American service members at risk. Trump has sought throughout his time in office to improve relations with Russia and President Vladimir Putin, moving this year to try to reinstate Russia as part of a group of world leaders it had been kicked out of.

Intel community didn’t have enough details to form a response

Officials said they didn’t consider the intelligence assessments in 2019 to be particularly urgent, given Russian meddling in Afghanistan isn’t a new occurrence. The officials with knowledge of Bolton’s apparent briefing for Trump said it contained no “actionable intelligence,” meaning the intelligence community didn’t have enough information to form a strategic plan or response. However, the classified assessment of Russian bounties was the sole purpose of the meeting.

The officials insisted on anonymity because they weren’t authorized to disclose the highly sensitive information.

The intelligence that surfaced in early 2019 indicated Russian operatives had become more aggressive in their desire to contract with the Taliban and members of the Haqqani Network, a militant group aligned with the Taliban in Afghanistan and designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2012 during the Obama administration.

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The National Security Council and the undersecretary of defense for intelligence held meetings regarding the intelligence. The NSC didn’t respond to questions about the meetings.

Late Monday, the Pentagon issued a statement saying it was evaluating the intelligence but so far had “no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations.”

“Regardless, we always take the safety and security of our forces in Afghanistan — and around the world — most seriously and therefore continuously adopt measures to prevent harm from potential threats,” said Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

Concerns about Russian bounties flared anew this year after members of the elite Naval Special Warfare Development Group, known to the public as SEAL Team Six, raided a Taliban outpost and recovered roughly $500,000 in U.S. currency. The funds bolstered the suspicions of the American intelligence community that Russians had offered money to Taliban militants and linked associations.

The White House contends the president was unaware of this development, too.
The officials told the AP that career government officials developed potential options for the White House to respond to the Russian aggression in Afghanistan, which was first reported by The New York Times. However, the Trump administration has yet to authorize any action.

Intelligence on the Russian bounties came from captured Taliban militants

The intelligence in 2019 and 2020 surrounding Russian bounties was derived in part from debriefings of captured Taliban militants. Officials with knowledge of the matter told the AP that Taliban operatives from opposite ends of the country and from separate tribes offered similar accounts.

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Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russian intelligence officers had offered payments to the Taliban in exchange for targeting U.S. and coalition forces.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the Taliban’s chief negotiator, a spokesman for the insurgents said Tuesday, but it was unknown whether there was any mention during their conversation of allegations about Russian bounties. Pompeo pressed the insurgents to reduce violence in Afghanistan and discussed ways of advancing a U.S.-Taliban peace deal signed in February, the Taliban spokesman tweeted.

The U.S. is investigating whether Americans died because of the Russian bounties. Officials are focused on an April 2019 attack on an American convoy. Three U.S. Marines were killed after a car rigged with explosives detonated near their armored vehicles as they returned to Bagram Airfield, the largest U.S. military installation in Afghanistan.

The Defense Department identified them as Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman, 43, of Newark, Delaware; Sgt. Benjamin Hines, 31, of York, Pennsylvania; and Cpl. Robert Hendriks, 25, of Locust Valley, New York. They were infantrymen assigned to 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines, a reserve infantry unit headquartered out of Garden City, New York.

Hendriks’ father told the AP that even a rumor of Russian bounties should have been immediately addressed.

“If this was kind of swept under the carpet as to not make it a bigger issue with Russia, and one ounce of blood was spilled when they knew this, I lost all respect for this administration and everything,” Erik Hendriks said.

Three other service members and an Afghan contractor were wounded in the attack. As of April 2019, the attack was under a separate investigation, unrelated to the Russian bounties.

The officials who spoke to the AP also said they were looking closely at insider attacks from 2019 to determine if they were linked to Russian bounties.

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Pakistan International Airlines Plane Crashes in Karachi Leaving Many Dead

The plane crash occurred as the flight from Lahore to Karachi was approaching Jinnah International Airport. The pilot indicated some technical issues, and the Airbus-320 attempted to land a couple of times but failed. This is borne out by witnesses who confirmed the failed attempts. It finally crashed into a residential area, and two persons on board had a miraculous escape, as revealed by civil aviation officials. There were 91 passengers and seven crew on board. It seems one of the survivors was a high-ranking official of a bank. A provincial government spokesman added – “a banker had survived and spoke to officials from his hospital bed.”

Sky News says Pakistan had been under lockdown since mid-March because of coronavirus in order to prevent the spread of the highly contagious disease.

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The country had restarted its domestic flights earlier this week, keeping in mind the forthcoming Eid holiday that marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan expressed his grief and sent condolences via Twitter. He sad – “Shocked & saddened by the PIA crash. . . Immediate inquiry will be instituted. Prayers & condolences go to families of the deceased.”

Mayor Wasim Akhtar mentioned about damages to a number of houses with scenes of debris scattered on the roads. The area is a densely populated settlement near the airport. The final casualty figures could be high. It was a chaotic situation, and ambulances were on hand to shift injured persons to hospitals.

The authorities deployed helicopters in the search and rescue operations, and paramilitary troops were at the site to assist the civil administration. Sky News quotes a spokesman of PIA saying – “The last we heard from the pilot was that he had some technical problem.

It is a very tragic incident.” The aircraft had lost power, and both engines were inoperative. Hence, the pilot sent a Mayday and tried to retrieve the situation. The air traffic control cleared the airport for landing on any of the landing strips, but things went out of control. Flight duration from Lahore to Karachi is usually one and half-hour.

This plane received its airworthiness clearance on 1 November 2019. There is a separate certificate of 28 April that confirms, “The aircraft is fully airworthy and meets all the safety standards.” PIA’s chief engineer signed this document.

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According to BBC, a Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane flying from Lahore to Karachi crashed into a residential area and killed at least 76 people. The Airbus A320 was carrying 91 passengers and eight crew, and the tragedy happened while the pilot was trying to land at the Jinnah International Airport. Flight PK8303 crashed into a residential area, and the injured were moved to hospitals.

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Local health officials at the hospitals indicated up to 76 confirmed deaths. However, they could not provide the breakup of passengers and local residents. Investigators will have to retrieve the black box recorders and analyze its contents to help determine the cause. This plane had joined the fleet in 2014. Pakistan had witnessed several airline crashes earlier. They involved different airlines and different types of aircraft, and all had many casualties.

It is the preferred mode of travel for the fast-paced society. However, there are inbuilt risks, and any accident in the air could be catastrophic. When a car engine fails on the ground, one can ring up the garage and move the vehicle to the curb but not in the air. In February 2017, four Americans died in a plane crash in Australia. One year later, in February 2018, a plane crash in Iran killed all 66 passengers on board. Obviously, those who operate airlines must ensure that once the aircraft takes off, it must come down under its own power at the designated landing spot.

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U.S. Cutting Afghan Aid by $1B Over Political Rift

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2020 — The U.S. is getting ready to cut aid to Afghanistan by $1 billion and are threatening to cut even more unless the rival political leaders can set aside their differences and form a government that can finalize a peace deal with the Taliban.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the announcement on Monday, after trying to end the dispute between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and former Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, who are disputing the results of the presidential election last fall. Pompeo then met with a Taliban representative in Qatar.

In a statement, Pompeo said Ghani and Abdullah had informed him that they were “unable to agree on an inclusive government” despite what the chief U.S. diplomat described as an urgent need for one.

“The United States is disappointed in them and what their conduct means for Afghanistan and our shared interests,” Pompeo said, adding that “this leadership failure poses a direct threat to U.S. national interests.”

The announced aid cuts may appear harsh, given how much Afghanistan continues to rely on U.S. assistance since American troops overthrew the Taliban regime there following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But in many ways, the cuts are part of a pattern for the administration of President Donald Trump: It relies more on sticks than carrots, and it has been willing to impose sanctions, tariffs and other penalties on allies as well as adversaries in pursuit of what it says is the U.S. interest.

In Trump’s view, and that of a growing, bipartisan crowd in Washington, the U.S. interest includes withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan.

Pompeo added that “the U.S. government will initiate a review of the scope of our cooperation with Afghanistan.” Aside from the initial $1 billion aid cut, “we are prepared to reduce by another $1 billion in 2021,” he said.

Five months after the voting took place, Ghani was declared the winner of the September presidential election. But Abdullah alleged there was major fraud in the polls and has been unwilling to concede. Abdullah has started trying to form a parallel government. He also has the backing of some ethnic militia leaders.

“We have made clear to the leadership that we will not back security operations that are politically motivated, nor support political leaders who order such operations or those who advocate for or support parallel government,” Pompeo said.

The Afghan political infighting has complicated U.S. efforts to start implementing a peace agreement with the Taliban reached in late February.

The deal envisions a U.S. troop pullout in tandem with the Taliban meeting certain conditions. Those conditions include Taliban talks with the Afghan government and upholding a promise not to let terrorist groups use Afghan soil to plot external terrorist attacks.

But Afghan officials, including Ghani, have long been skeptical of the U.S. talks with the Taliban, and have been frustrated at being left out through much of the process. They’re particularly angry over provisions in the deal that require the release of some 5,000 Taliban prisoners.

Pompeo chided Ghani and Abdullah for “failing to establish an inclusive national team to participate in intra-Afghan negotiations or take practical steps to facilitate prisoner releases by both sides as a confidence-building measure to reach a political settlement and achieve a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.”

He also noted that the U.S. was still “proceeding with the conditions-based withdrawal of our forces in accordance with the U.S.-Taliban agreement.”

Pompeo also offered some salve for the wound, saying the United States may “revisit the reviews initiated today” if the Afghan leaders come to a political agreement.

He further insisted that the U.S. isn’t fully abandoning its partnership with Kabul, noting that, for instance, it plans to give $15 million to help Afghanistan combat the coronavirus pandemic.

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Egyptian Ex-President Mubarak has died at 91

CAIRO, February 25, 2020 — Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian chief who for about 30 years was the steadfast substance of solidness in the Middle East, kicked the bucket on Tuesday, the nation’s state TV stated, finishing his days after a quick and dishonorable tumble from power in the Arab world’s genius majority rule government change. He was 91.

All through his standard, he was a stalwart U.S. partner, a bullwark against Islamic militancy and gatekeeper of Egypt’s tranquility with Israel. Be that as it may, to the a huge number of youthful Egyptians who mobilized for 18 days of phenomenal road dissents in Cairo’s focal Tahrir Square and somewhere else in 2011, Mubarak was a relic, a modern pharaoh.

They were propelled by the Tunisian revolt, and bridled the intensity of web based life to assemble turbulent crowds, releasing well known resentment regarding the join and severity that shadowed his standard. At last, with millions massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and downtown areas around the nation and in any event, walking to the doorstep of Mubarak’s royal residence, the military that since quite a while ago sustained him pushed him aside on Feb. 11, 2011. The commanders took power, planning to save what they could of the framework he headed.

Despite the fact that Tunisia’s leader fell before him, the ouster of Mubarak was the all the more staggering breakdown even with the Arab Spring shaking systems over the Arab world.

He turned into the main chief so far expelled in the dissent wave to be detained. He was indicted alongside his previous security boss on June 2012 and condemned to life in jail for neglecting to forestall the killing of approximately 900 nonconformists during the 18-day who rose facing his dictatorial system in 2011. Both claimed the decision and a higher court later cleared them in 2014.

The vindication staggered numerous Egyptians, a large number of whom filled Cairo to show their resentment against the court.

Pentagon officials believe Iran accidentally shot down Ukrainian plane outside Tehran

Evidence indicates it is “highly likely” that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner near Tehran late Tuesday, U.S. and Canadian officials said Thursday. They said the strike, which killed all 176 people on board, could well have been a mistake amid intentional airstrikes and high tensions throughout the region.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran launched a ballistic attack against Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops amid a confrontation with Washington over the U.S. drone strike that killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general. Four U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence, said they had no certain knowledge of Iranian intent and the airliner could have been mistaken for a threat.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost at least 63 citizens in the downing, said in a Thursday press conference in Toronto: “We have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile,.”

Earlier Thursday, President Donald Trump suggested he believed Iran was responsible for the shootdown but wouldn’t directly blame the Iranians. He dismissed Iran’s initial claim that it was a mechanical issue.

“Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side.” Trump said, noting the plane was flying in a “pretty rough neighborhood.”

“Some people say it was mechanical,” Trump added. “I personally don’t think that’s even a question.”

The U.S. officials wouldn’t say what intelligence they had that pointed to an Iranian missile. But they acknowledged the existence of satellites and other sensors in the region, as well as the likelihood of communication interceptions and other similar intelligence.

Two additional U.S. officials said the intelligence pointing to likely Iranian responsibility became clearer overnight into Thursday. It was not immediately clear how the U.S. and its allies would react to the downing of the airliner. At least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians were among the dead.

Despite efforts by Washington and Tehran to step back from the brink of possible war, the region remained on edge after the killing of the Iranian general and Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes. U.S. troops were on high-alert.

The latest assessment comes just a day after Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they hadn’t had a chance to review the intelligence on the incident. Both spent much of the day at the White House and on Capitol Hill briefing the administration on on the killing of Soleimani and the resulting attacks by Iran.

A preliminary Iranian investigative report released Thursday said that the airliner pilots never made a radio call for help and that the aircraft was trying to turn back for the airport when the burning plane went down. Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike as one of several possible theories for the crash, despite Iran’s early denials.

The Iranian report suggests that a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines late Tuesday, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

Investigators from Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however. Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn’t speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

Before the U.S. assessment, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Hasan Rezaeifa, the head of the of civil aviation accident investigation commission, claiming that “the topics of rocket, missile or anti-aircraft system is ruled out.”

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12 a.m. Wednesday, Tehran time, after nearly an hour’s delay at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travelers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though “no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations,” the report said. In emergencies, pilots reach out to air-traffic controllers to warn them and to clear the runway for their arrival, though their first priority is to keep the aircraft flying.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18 a.m., the report said. The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the “black boxes” that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

Hours before the plane crash the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had issued an emergency flight restriction barring U.S. carriers and pilots from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace warning of the “potential for miscalculation or misidentification” for civilian aircraft due to heightened political and military tensions.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council, told Ukrainian media that officials had several working theories regarding the crash, including a missile strike.

“A strike by a missile, possibly a Tor missile system, is among the main (theories), as information has surfaced on the internet about elements of a missile being found near the site of the crash,” Danilov said. He did not elaborate on where he saw the information on the internet.

Ukrainian investigators that arrived in Iran earlier on Thursday currently await permission from Iranian authorities to examine the crash site and look for missile fragments, Danilov said.

The Tor is a Russian-made missile system. Russia delivered 29 Tor-M1s to Iran in 2007 as part of a $700 million contract signed in December 2005. Iran has displayed the missiles in military parades as well.

Iran did not immediately respond to the Ukrainian comments. However, Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces, denied a missile hit the airplane in a comments reported Wednesday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. He dismissed the allegation as “psychological warfare” by foreign-based Iranian opposition groups.

Ukraine has a grim history with missile attacks, including in July 2014 when one such strike downed a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

Danilov also said other possible causes under consideration included a drone or another flying object crashing into the plane, a terrorist attack or an engine malfunction causing an explosion. However, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the plane was only 3½ years old.

The plane was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials. Many of the passengers were believed to be international students attending universities in Canada; they were making their way back to Toronto by way of Kyiv after visiting with family during the winter break.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he planned to call Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about the crash and the investigation.

“Undoubtedly, the priority for Ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash,” Zelenskiy said. “We will surely find out the truth.”

The crash ranked among the worst losses of life for Canadians in an aviation disaster. The flag over Parliament in Ottawa was lowered to half-staff, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed to get to the bottom of the disaster.

The British government said Thursday it is investigating “very concerning” reports about the crash.

The U.S. accident investigator, the National Transportation Safety Board, is talking to the State Department and the Treasury Department about traveling to Iran to inspect the U.S.-built aircraft and working with Iranian authorities despite U.S. economic sanctions against that country. Federal officials are concerned about sending employees to Iran because of the heightened tensions.