Russia bounties story in US media aimed at spoiling peace deal: Taliban

A Taliban official has dismissed as fake a recent report in the US media that accused Russia of paying the militant group to kill American troops in Afghanistan, saying the report was a byproduct of US political infighting and aimed at spoiling a Taliban-Washington peace deal.

In a report last month, the New York Times, citing an unnamed source, claimed that a top-secret unit within the Russian military intelligence, or the GRU, had allegedly offered monetary rewards to Taliban-linked militants to kill US troopers in the country last year.

Russia dismissed the report as a bunch of “lies.”

In an interview with Russia’s RT news channel released on Sunday, Taliban spokesperson and US-Taliban negotiator Suhail Shaheen said the story “has to do with internal politics” in the US.

“This Russian bounties, it is not true,” he said. “We are not fighting for anyone for money.”

Russia rejects ‘unscrupulous speculation’ alleging offer of bounties to Taliban

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismisses “unscrupulous speculation” about alleged Russian ties with the Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

He did not deny that the Taliban attack US troops in Afghanistan, but said that the group do so based on “ideology.”

A peace deal was signed between the Taliban and the US in late February, in the Qatari capital, Doha, for a phased US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Taliban reshuffle team of negotiators

Meanwhile, the leader of the Taliban militant group is reported to have reshuffled his team of negotiators ahead of long-awaited peace talks with the Afghan government, sources with the group said Saturday.

Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, added four close aides to the group and removed three to four earlier members of the team, AFP reported.

According to the sources, the newly-appointed negotiators are all members of the militant group’s leadership council, which should help the team make quicker decisions.

US, Taliban urge Kabul to complete prisoner swap

On Sunday, acting US ambassador to Afghanistan, Ross Wilson, called on President Ashraf Ghani and his coalition partner, Abdullah Abdullah to complete the exchange of prisoners and launch talks with the Taliban without delay.

“The Afghan people have made clear their impatience,” he said in a series of tweets. “Start intra-Afghan negotiations now so that discussions on a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire can begin.”

The peace negotiations hinge on the prisoner swap, in which Kabul pledged to free about 5,000 Taliban prisoners in return for around 1,000 Afghan security forces held by the militants.

Afghan authorities have so far released about 4,400 Taliban prisoners, according to officials. The Taliban accused Kabul on Sunday of “creating hurdle” in the way of negotiations by refusing to release the remaining prisoners.

Kabul has refused to release around 600 prisoners, whom it says are “too dangerous.”

Afghan government says will not release ‘too dangerous’ Taliban prisoners

The Taliban has accused Kabul of fabricating criminal cases against the prisoners.

The intra-Afghan talks have repeatedly been delayed as the Taliban continue their attacks across the nation. The peace talks, which were abandoned by the Taliban back in April, were initially supposed to have started in March in Doha.

US Special Representative on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, said last week that “large numbers” of Afghans continue to die without a reason.

“Violence has been high, especially in recent days and weeks,” he said.

US cuts down troops, closes 5 bases in Afghanistan

Last week, the Pentagon announced that it had closed five military bases in Afghanistan as part of the agreement reached with the Taliban.

“US forces in Afghanistan remain in the mid-8,000s and five bases formerly occupied by US forces have been transferred to our Afghan partners,” said Pentagon chief spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

The bases were in Helmand, Uruzgan, Paktika and Laghman provinces.

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