It didn’t work against Russia, but maybe if we make China the villain, it’ll stand a better chance. This must be the logic of the story that Axios “broke” last night, and that was quickly picked up by other media outlets, in which China is fingered as the “culprit” offering bounties to “non-state actors” to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. “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,” Axios reported, citing two unnamed senior administration officials as its sources. “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.”
By now, of course, everyone knows that the Russia-bounties story never gained any traction (except among Trump haters, for whom actual evidence is irrelevant), as not even U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie would endorse it, but with the U.S. jacking up tensions with China, maybe someone thought it would work this time.
According to the Axios report, Trump was briefed in this supposed but uncorroborated intelligence on Dec. 17 by National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien. “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.,” Axios says. “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.” The unnamed sources were very cheeky about the alleged intelligence, refusing to provide much detail, but claiming that the plot emerged sometime in February, after the U.S. signed the peace agreement with the Taliban. One of the officials pointed out that no U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since. The official also complained about Chinese weapons showing up in the hands of the Taliban, but after 40 years of war, Afghanistan is probably awash with weapons from everywhere.
