{"id":53125,"date":"2020-07-07T20:57:38","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T20:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/07\/top-us-general-in-the-middle-east-skeptical-that-russian-bounties-led-to-troops-deaths\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:48:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:48:43","slug":"top-us-general-in-the-middle-east-skeptical-that-russian-bounties-led-to-troops-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/07\/07\/top-us-general-in-the-middle-east-skeptical-that-russian-bounties-led-to-troops-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Top US general in the Middle East skeptical that Russian bounties led to troops\u2019 deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The top U.S. general for the Middle East said Tuesday that the intelligence suggesting that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/06\/29\/white-house-aware-in-2019-of-russian-bounties-on-american-troops-in-afghanistan-officials-say\/\" target=_blank>Russia may have paid Taliban militants <\/a>to kill American troops in Afghanistan was worrisome, but he is not convinced that any bounties resulted in U.S. military deaths.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command said in a telephone interview with a small group of reporters that the U.S. did not increase force protection measures in Afghanistan as a result of the information, although he asked his intelligence staff to dig into the matter more.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI found it very worrisome. I didn\u2019t find that there was a causative link there,\u201d said McKenzie, who is the first Pentagon official to speak publicly at length about the issue. He warned, however, that Russia has long been a threat in Afghanistan, where there have been many reports that it has backed Taliban fighters over the years with resources and weapons.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to U.S. intelligence officials, information that Russia offered bounties to Taliban militants for killing American troops was included in an intelligence brief for President Donald Trump in late February. The White House, however, has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/06\/28\/trump-denies-briefing-on-reported-bounties-against-american-troops-in-afghanistan\/\" target=_blank>denied Trump was briefed<\/a> at that time, arguing that the intelligence was not credible enough to bring to his attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/07\/01\/trump-calls-reports-of-russian-bounties-on-us-troops-a-hoax\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1222991419.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Trump calls reports of Russian bounties on US troops a \u2018hoax&#8217;<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The president criticized the media for reporting allegations that Russian officials paid Taliban units to target American forces.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McKenzie said that while he could draw no direct link between any potential payments and U.S. casualties, it\u2019s common that intelligence is not definitive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe should always remember, the Russians are not our friends,\u201d said McKenzie, who is traveling in the Middle East. \u201cThey are not our friends in Afghanistan. And they do not wish us well, and we just need to remember that at all times when we evaluate that intelligence.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said there was no need to beef up security for troops there because the U.S. already takes \u201cextreme force protections measures\u201d in Afghanistan. \u201cWhether the Russians are paying the Taliban or not, over the past several years, the Taliban have done their level best to carry out operations against us.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2020\/06\/10\/heres-what-the-centcom-commander-says-about-the-possibility-of-syria-afghanistan-withdrawals\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1195703457.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Here\u2019s what the CENTCOM commander says about the possibility of Syria, Afghanistan withdrawals<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Withdrawing from Syria will \u201cultimately be a political decision,\u201d while Afghanistan drawdown timeline depends on how Taliban act in coming months.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just days after the February intelligence briefing, the U.S. signed an agreement with the Taliban, mapping out the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan by May 2021. That date would be nearly 20 years after American forces invaded the country after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. by al-Qaida militants.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump had repeatedly said he wants to have all U.S. forces out of Afghanistan. His call in May for a quick exit, fueled speculation that he wants troops out by the November election, as part of his vow to end U.S. involvement in what he calls \u201cendless wars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. pulled several thousand troops out this year, and now has about 8,600 there. Additional troop withdrawal is contingent on the Taliban\u2019s commitment that extremist groups, such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, not be able to use the country as a base to carry out attacks on the U.S. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked about the potential for pulling more U.S. troops out, McKenzie said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/06\/10\/taliban-have-not-yet-met-conditions-for-american-troop-withdrawal-says-the-top-us-general-in-the-mideast\/\" target=_blank>he still does not believe the conditions allow for a significant reduction<\/a> yet.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TeCpoCcbv48?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen title=\"Hear Trump, Esper remarks on Taliban peace deal | Newsbreak\"><\/iframe>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The top U.S. general for the Middle East said Tuesday that the intelligence suggesting that Russia may have paid Taliban militants to kill American troops in Afghanistan was worrisome, but he is not convinced that any bounties resulted in U.S. military deaths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":96167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,23,92,12,25,67,69],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1365],"class_list":["post-53125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-marine-corps"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"QEMBWBDGENBRRBMS5XTYPTFFK4","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2020\/07\/07\/top-us-general-in-the-middle-east-skeptical-that-russian-bounties-led-to-troops-deaths\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Top US general in the Middle East skeptical that Russian bounties led to troops\u2019 deaths - Marine Corps Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The top U.S. general for the Middle East said Tuesday that the intelligence suggesting that Russia may have paid Taliban militants to kill American troops in Afghanistan was worrisome, but he is not convinced that any bounties resulted in U.S. military deaths.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top US general in the Middle East skeptical that Russian bounties led to troops\u2019 deaths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The top U.S. general for the Middle East said Tuesday that the intelligence suggesting that Russia may have paid Taliban militants to kill American troops in Afghanistan was worrisome, but he is not convinced that any bounties resulted in U.S. military deaths.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/07\/07\/top-us-general-in-the-middle-east-skeptical-that-russian-bounties-led-to-troops-deaths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Marine Corps Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-07T20:57:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T10:48:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lolita C. 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