Posted on 12/30/2020 11:46:50 PM PST by thegagline
The Trump administration is declassifying as-yet uncorroborated intelligence, recently briefed to President Trump, that indicates China offered to pay non-state actors in Afghanistan to attack American soldiers, two senior administration officials tell Axios.
The big picture: The disclosure of this unconfirmed intelligence comes 21 days before the end of Trump's presidency, after he has vowed to ratchet up pressure on China, and months after news reports indicated that the Russians had secretly offered bounties for Taliban militants to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The Chinese embassy in D.C. did not respond to a request for comment. Trump is not believed to have discussed the matter with President Xi Jinping. It was not immediately clear whether any members of Congress or President-elect Joe Biden have been briefed, though Biden now has access to the President's Daily Brief (PDB). Behind the scenes: The intelligence was included in the president's briefing on Dec. 17, and Trump was verbally briefed on the matter by National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien, officials said.
Administration officials across multiple agencies are currently working to corroborate the initial intelligence reports. Axios was not able to visually inspect any reports detailing the intelligence. A summary was described by phone by the officials. Why it matters: If this intelligence were to be confirmed, it would represent a dramatic strategic shift for China, and sharply escalate tensions between China and the U.S. If the intelligence does not prove accurate, it raises questions about the motivations of the sources behind it as well as the decision to declassify it.
(Excerpt) Read more at axios.com ...
The unconfirmed intelligence that has yet to be proven accurate...
Axios is Comcast
Didn’t the Americans arm the Taliban when they were fighting the Russians?
Riiight... Axios thinks that the IC just throws unconfirmed intel into the PDB because they need filler to entertain the President since nothing newsworthy is going on in the world of espionage, war and diplomacy.
You’re thinking of the Muhajadeen. They had many factions some extreme, some not, some factions supported by the US and some were not. Some were supported by other countries that also were against the Soviet takeover for religious reasons. Omar was from one faction.
“The Taliban” did not exist in the Russo-Afghan War- with the exception of Mullah Omar [who did fight in it], they were a bunch of religious youth/students who formed in the mid 90s, a few years after the war, in response to the inability of the wobbly postwar government’s to restore order after the Soviet withdrawal. At first the people welcomed them because they went after thieves and other criminals including drug smugglers that, since war’s end, were plaguing them in the absence of police. The Pakistani ISI quickly noticed them and recruited them to protect transportation routes into central Asia; but the money and power it brought corrupted them.
I think you missed the point, which was that the Americans were aiding the enemies of the Russians so it should be no surprise that other countries are aiding the enemies of us. The old “enemy of my enemy is my friend” strategy. If I wanted that level of detail I could have looked it up before I posted but I didn’t think it was necessary.
Declassify Roswell.
Was Russian Collusion ‘confirmed’ when the media was reporting it? If not, then why didn’t they say UNCONFIRMED at the time?
(as if I need to answer)
The usage or absence of such words is important. It EXPOSES the bias of the authors. You can clearly read into this that the authors cannot be trusted to tell the whole truth. Media bias is determined from what is not said, as well as from what is written.
Everything else about Trump during the past 4 years was presented as fact..........
Yup. BUT, I don't think that there is a moral equivalence.
AGAIN!
Russia, Russia, Russia, only to find out it was really CHINA, CHINA, CHINA!
Wait, a few months ago the demsheviks and their enemedia lapdogs were all Russia! Russia! Russia! Claiming the russians and specifically Putin offered bounties.
Where is Liberty Valence when desperately needed
Sic, sic, sic.........Liberty, there on Axios
“Didn’t the Americans arm the Taliban when they were fighting the Russians?”
No.
In Afghanistan there were two distinct mujahedeen groups. There was the Afghan mujahedeen, and the arab mujahedeen. The west supported the Afghans, while arab states obviously supported the arabs.
These two groups fought against each other almost as much as they fought the soviets.
The taliban and al qaeda were formed from the arab mujahedeen.
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