Ex-CIA Chief Says U.S. May Need To Respond With ‘Bold’ Action If Russian Bounties Prove True

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
July 11, 2020

WASHINGTON — The former head of the CIA said the United States may need to respond with “bold” action against Russia, including imposing harder-hitting sanctions, should a report prove true that Moscow offered Taliban-linked militants money to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.

Leon Panetta, who served as CIA director and secretary of defense during the administration of President Barack Obama, told a congressional hearing on July 10 that such an action by Russia would cross a line and require a response that could include diplomatic isolation, sanctions, and, “if necessary,” military force.

Panetta said Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to carry out aggressive actions around the world because the United States has failed to take a tough stance against him and his nation in the past.

“I think we may have to do something bold in order to get Putin’s attention. I think, right now, Putin does not really believe that the United States is going to respond in a way that is going to really undermine Russia and undermine him,” he told a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The hearing was at least the third this week in the Democratic-controlled House on the topic of whether Russia paid Taliban militants to target U.S. soldiers and how the United States should respond.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on July 9 with four military and foreign policy experts on how to respond to Russia, while the House Armed Services Committee held a hearing on the same day with Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley.

The issue has become a hot, partisan topic since The New York Times first reported at the end of June that President Donald Trump was briefed on the bounty but did nothing in response.

The White House has said Trump, a Republican who is seeking reelection in November, was not briefed on the intelligence because it was unverified.

Should the intelligence report prove accurate, Panetta said the Trump administration should consider imposing the type of hard-hitting sanctions on Russia that it imposed on Iran.

Those punishing sanctions have cut into Iran’s economy, including its oil industry, as it seeks to stop its suspected nuclear-weapons program. Iran’s oil production has tumbled, starving the government of cash.

Russia is among the world’s top three oil producers and sanctions on its energy industry could potentially impact global supply and prices.

“If we did [that to Russia], it would send a clear signal to Putin that we are serious about making sure they stop the aggression that they have been involved in,” he told the hearing.

Panetta pointed out that Russia has forcibly annexed Crimea, carried out suspected assassinations in Europe, and interfered in U.S. elections, among other aggressive actions.

Panetta said the United States needs to strengthen NATO and build new alliances, including in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America to promote stability and counter the influence of Russia and China.

Moscow and Beijing “can’t form alliances. They fear alliances. So our ability to develop and maintain alliances is one of our best weapons against those adversaries,” he said.

Panetta criticized Trump’s plans to withdraw nearly 10,000 U.S. military personnel from Germany, saying it would send a “message of weakness” to Russia.

“This is the wrong time to be moving forces out of Europe,” he told the hearing.

Panetta, who served in the House of Representatives from 1977 until 1993, said he is concerned about the growing divide between Republicans and Democrats in Congress on such issues, saying it plays into Putin’s hands.

“We have got to restore a sense of bipartisanship when it comes to our national security interests. Right now, Putin looks at the United States and looks at the polarization and the partisanship and the divide that has taken place in our country and has seen that as weakness,” he said.

Panetta’s son, Jimmy Panetta, is a Democratic member of the House, representing California.

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

U.S. Military Leaders Vow Response If Proof Of Russian Bounties Paid To Taliban Uncovered

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Pentagon

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
July 10, 2020

Top Pentagon officials have said that the United States will respond if the U.S. military is able to corroborate reports that Russia paid militants linked to the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the information thus far had not been corroborated by defense intelligence agencies, but vowed that the Pentagon will find out if it’s true.

“And if it is true, we will take action,” he said, without specifying what action might be taken.

Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were questioned during a congressional hearing on media reports claiming Russia had offered Taliban militants bounties for killing Americans in Afghanistan.

Esper said his military commanders heard initial reports on the bounty issue in January and he first saw an intelligence paper about it in February. While the threats were taken seriously, he said they had not yet been found credible.

The New York Times first reported on the intelligence last month and said President Donald Trump was briefed on the intelligence but did nothing in response. The White House has said Trump was not briefed on the intelligence because it was unverified.

Possible Measures

As the reports of the alleged bounties were becoming public at the end of June, Trump approved plans to withdraw nearly 10,000 U.S. military personnel from Germany, a move that General John Nicholson, the former commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, said sent the wrong signal to Russia.

“These troop withdrawals play into Russia’s desire to undermine and weaken NATO. If carried out despite these bounties, this will be viewed as a sign of American weakness in the face of Russian threats,” Nicholson told a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on July 9 dedicated to possible responses to Moscow’s alleged actions.

Ian Brzezinski, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO during the administration of George W. Bush, recommended the United States transition a temporary armored brigade in Poland into a permanent presence as a response. A permanent contingent of special forces could also be deployed in the Baltics, he said.

The Kremlin has strongly opposed permanent troop deployment to Poland and the Baltics, which border Russian territory.

Brzezinski told the hearing that the allegations of bounty payments fit into the pattern of Russia’s “steady escalation” of interference and aggression on the world stage and that the incremental U.S. response to date had not only “failed to convince [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to reverse course,” but may have even emboldened him.

“If we are more forceful, if we are more firm, we do have very good prospects of actually restraining Putin’s actions and ambitions,” he said.

The experts also said the United States could impose more sanctions on Russia, including on the GRU, the military intelligence agency that supposedly organized the bounty payments.

Russian Support

Washington has known for years that Russia has been supporting the Afghan insurgents, including through arms shipments, Milley said during the hearing in the House Armed Services Committee.

But the Pentagon did not have “concrete corroborating evidence” or intelligence to show it had been “directing” the Taliban and, he said, “that’s a big difference.”

The United States is still looking into the matter, he said, and, if it’s confirmed that the Russians have paid the Taliban bounties, it would be a “big deal.”

On July 7, the head of U.S. Central Command said in an interview he was “not convinced” that any Russian bounties paid to Taliban militants resulted in the deaths of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Marine General Frank McKenzie said he was familiar with the information and he found it “very worrisome,” but added that he didn’t find a “causative link” to the deaths of any U.S. soldiers.

Russia and the Taliban have denied the claims.

The United States has been gradually withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, a key demand of the Taliban and a term of a deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February.

With reporting by AFP, AP and Reuters

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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28 Georgian Soldiers in Afghanistan Infected with Coronavirus

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
July 10, 2020

The novel coronavirus has reportedly infected 28 Georgian soldiers in the NATO Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan.

The infected soldiers have been transported back to their country and are undergoing treatment in a military hospital, local media quoted Georgia’s Ministry of Defense as saying. It described the health condition of the soldiers as “satisfactory.”

A spokesman for the non-combatant military alliance in Afghanistan, when contacted for comments Friday, referred VOA to Georgian defense officials to talk about the status of their forces.

“Resolute Support does not confirm individual case numbers. Protection of the force from all threats, to include COVID-19, remains our top priority,” said the spokesman.

Georgia is said to be the largest non-NATO contributor to the 38-nation military mission in Afghanistan with around 900 soldiers.

The military alliance has reported several cases of infections since the pandemic reached Afghanistan four months ago without disclosing the nationalities of those suffering from the virus.

As of Friday, the official tally of coronavirus cases in Afghanistan stood at about 34,000, with nearly 1,000 deaths.

Afghan public health officials, however, have warned that the actual numbers are much higher, citing limited testing capacity, among other challenges facing the war-hit health care system. They anticipate that more than half of the country’s estimated 37 million population could become infected in the coming months.

NATO has lately stepped up cooperation with Afghan national security forces to help them fight the pandemic by providing supplies of personal protective medical equipment, including 1.4 million masks, 500,000 gloves and 460,000 gowns.

The virus is reportedly sweeping through Afghan military and police forces. The Afghan defense ministry, however, denies any large scale infections among security forces.

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Watchdog Urges Kabul To Observe Media Law After Journalists Arrested, Harassed

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
July 9, 2020

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the recent arrests of two journalists in Afghanistan and the “harassment” to which the Pajhwok Afghan News agency is being subjected by the authorities.

In a statement on July 9, the Paris-based media freedom watchdog urged the Afghan authorities and security officials to respect the country’s press law “when taking action against ‘rumors and fake news.’”

“It is vital that the media should be able to do their work without impediment, in order to inform the public what is being done to combat corruption and any shortcomings,” said Reza Moini, the head of RSF’s Afghanistan desk.

Journalist Mahboboalah Hakimi of Radio Bayan (Word) was arrested on July 1 by agents of the National Department of Security (NDS) for allegedly insulting President Ashraf Ghani by calling him an “unbeliever” in a Facebook post, RSF said.

Just before his arrest, Hakimi denied being the author of the post and said his Facebook account had been hacked.

But he later appeared in a video recorded by the NDS in which he confessed to being responsible for the post in question and apologized to the president.

After being released on July 8, he said he had been tortured and forced to make a confession.

The journalist was arrested again by the NDS the next day.

Another journalist, Farough jan Mangol, was detained by NDS agents for questioning after his home was searched, according to RSF.

Mangol, a correspondent for the Reuters news agency, was then released with NDS agents saying his arrest had been a mistake.

According to RSF, Afghanistan’s biggest news agency has been harassed since June 22, when it reported that 32 ventilators intended for coronavirus patients had been stolen and sold to Pakistan.

When Pajhwok Afghan News’s director, Danish Karokhel, was invited by a parliamentary commission for what was described as a consultation, he was subjected to a “full-blown interrogation” in which Health Ministry representatives took part and the news agency was accused of acting “against national security.”

In a tweet, Vice-President Amrullah Saleh accused Pajhwok of lying, saying said that “NO ventilator is missing.”

However, no formal action has been taken against the news agency, whose “damning report was extensively documented,” according to RSF.

Under the press law, complaints against the media and journalists must be handled by the Commission for the Verification of Press Offenses, which has to decide whether to transfer them to the courts.

“Neither parliament, nor the vice-president nor the NDS has the right to directly summon, arrest, or threaten journalists,” RSF said.

Afghanistan is ranked 122nd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Afghan women spin new careers by reviving ancient Silk Road crafts

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Reuters: Once an important Silk Road trading hub, the Afghan city of Herat has long been a cultural centre, but decades of war have ravaged its ancient traditional crafts. Now thousands of women are returning to the ancient practices, seeking to revive the traditions of a city where traders once came to haggle for silk in thick-walled houses and dome-shaped bazaars offering respite from hot summers. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Deny Prisoner Release Progress

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Sohail Shaheen

Ayesha Tanzeem
VOA News
July 9, 2020

ISLAMABAD – The Taliban denied news reports Thursday that they have agreed to an alternative list of prisoners to break a deadlock over prisoner exchange which is holding back the start of negotiations to reach a political settlement.

“This is not true. The prisoner commission has told me no such decision has been taken so far. . . . I think these are also delaying tactics. So far, we have not given an alternative list,” Suhail Shaheen, a Doha based Taliban spokesman, told VOA.

Earlier in the day, an Afghan government source had told multiple news outlets, including the VOA, that the deadlock over prisoners was over and that the Taliban had handed over an alternative list of 592 prisoners who would be released.

Delay in the release of 5000 Taliban prisoners is holding back the start of what are being termed intra-Afghan negotiations, with Taliban on one side and the government and other Afghan stake holders on the other. These are supposed to lead to a political settlement that ends decades of war in the country.

The Taliban have categorically said they would not start until their entire list of prisoners is out of Afghan prisons.

On Monday, the Afghan government announced that 600 of the prisoners could not be released due to their criminal background and participation in activities like armed robberies, murder, and drug smuggling.

Sediq Sediqi, the spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, said these particular prisoners were arrested due to their involvement in various criminal activities and not due to their affiliation with Taliban.

Shaheen denied that saying the government has “not provided any proof of these claims.”

The number, up to 5000 prisoners, was agreed to in a ground-breaking deal in February between the Taliban and the United States which led to the Taliban halting all attacks on foreign troops.

That deal specified that the Taliban prisoners would be released in exchange for up to 1000 Afghan security forces personnel in Taliban custody.

The Afghan government, which was not party to the February deal, was hesitant to acquiesce to the biggest Taliban demand before its own negotiations with the militant group had even started.

It wanted the militants to announce a nationwide cease-fire in return for what it considered was a big concession. The Taliban refused, saying their deal with the Americans stipulates that the  cease-fire would be discussed during the intra-Afghan negotiations.

However, the group has publicly pledged that it would sit down for the start of the negotiations as soon as the prisoner release is complete.

The group has faced severe criticism for continuing attacks on Afghan forces that inevitably kill civilians as well.

Meanwhile, President Ashraf Ghani hosted the last of three video conferences on the peace process with the representatives of 20 donor countries, the European Union, the United Nations, and NATO Thursday afternoon.

Gran Hewad, a spokesman for Afghan Foreign Ministry told journalists that the prisoner release, peace talks, reduction in violence, and permanent cease-fire were discussed with the aim of building a consensus.

Two conferences were held this week on Monday and Tuesday with representatives of the neighboring and regional countries, and other stake holders.

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Watchdog Criticizes Ghani’s Handling of Kabul Bank Funds Recovery

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Ashraf Ghani

Tolo News: The anti-corruption group Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA) on Thursday strongly criticized the handling of the Kabul Bank corruption case by the government of President Ashraf Ghani, saying that only $30 million of stolen assets have been recouped during Ghani’s tenure. Allegedly, $913 million was stolen.  Click here to read more (external link).

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