The Insider: The GRU allegedly paid Afghan Taliban for attacks on U.S. soldiers.

According to an investigation, from 2016 to 2020, the "Taliban" conducted a series of attacks on U.S. military bases in Afghanistan and terrorist acts in their immediate vicinity. Among the casualties were not only American military personnel but also members of the Afghan army and civilians. These attacks, as stated in the investigation, were inspired by the GRU. For each American soldier killed, the perpetrators received up to $200,000. Overall, during these years, Russia could have paid the "Taliban" around $30 million, as calculated by former employees of the Afghan National Security Directorate.

Money was transferred to Afghanistan by couriers holding Russian passports, issued with the assistance of the GRU. The planning of operations was handled by the GRU's Unit 29115, which, according to investigations, was involved in the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury, the explosion at an ammunition depot in the Czech town of Vrbětice, and other acts of sabotage outside Russia. The goal of the attacks funded by Russia, it is claimed, was to exert pressure on the U.S. and push them to withdraw troops from the country.

The authors, asserting that Moscow paid the Taliban for attacks on U.S. servicemen, refer to claims made by former employees of Afghan intelligence, as well as data they discovered regarding the GRU's recruitment of former smugglers, the Aziz brothers, who Afghan intelligence linked to the payment schemes to the Taliban. The names of alleged GRU scheme curators have also been mentioned.

In 2020, a leak of a report from U.S. intelligence surfaced, indicating that Russian authorities likely paid the Taliban for the killing of U.S. and Western coalition soldiers. The Taliban leadership denied the allegations, stating that attacks on American forces were spontaneous, self-funded, and preceded the deal with the Donald Trump administration, after which they ceased to attack Americans. The White House denied having specific information about a covert Russian program to incentivize the Taliban to kill American troops. As noted by The Insider, as early as 2021, during the Joe Biden administration, reports of possible Russian payments to the Taliban were described by the White House as "based on evidence of low or medium quality."

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