KONTAN.CO.ID - WASHINGTON. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was not told about a reported Russian effort to get the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers because many U.S. intelligence officials doubted its veracity, a stance contradicted by four U.S. and European sources and by its inclusion in a widely read CIA report in May. "We never heard about it because intelligence never found it to be of that level. ... This didn't rise to the occasion," he told Fox Business Network. "The intelligence people... many of them didn't believe it happened at all." The four U.S. and European government sources, who are familiar with intelligence reporting, said that in recent weeks the United States had acquired fresh reporting backing up the allegations that Russia had encouraged Taliban-affiliated militants to kill U.S. and allied soldiers in Afghanistan. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the latest information caused U.S. government experts to discount the National Security Agency's questioning of the allegations.
Trump: U.S. intelligence doubted Russia urged Taliban to kill U.S. troops
KONTAN.CO.ID - WASHINGTON. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was not told about a reported Russian effort to get the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers because many U.S. intelligence officials doubted its veracity, a stance contradicted by four U.S. and European sources and by its inclusion in a widely read CIA report in May. "We never heard about it because intelligence never found it to be of that level. ... This didn't rise to the occasion," he told Fox Business Network. "The intelligence people... many of them didn't believe it happened at all." The four U.S. and European government sources, who are familiar with intelligence reporting, said that in recent weeks the United States had acquired fresh reporting backing up the allegations that Russia had encouraged Taliban-affiliated militants to kill U.S. and allied soldiers in Afghanistan. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the latest information caused U.S. government experts to discount the National Security Agency's questioning of the allegations.