Afghan Contractor Handed Out Russian Cash to Kill Americans, Officials Say
Source: New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan He was a lowly drug smuggler, neighbors and relatives say, then ventured into contracting, seeking a slice of the billions of dollars the U.S.-led coalition was funneling into construction projects in Afghanistan.
But he really began to show off his wealth in recent years, after establishing a base in Russia, though how he earned those riches remained mysterious. On his regular trips home to northern Afghanistan, he drove the latest model cars, protected by bodyguards, and his house was recently upgraded to a four-story villa.
Now Rahmatullah Azizi stands as a central piece of a puzzle rocking Washington, named in American intelligence reports and confirmed by Afghan officials as a key middleman who for years handed out money from a Russian military intelligence unit to reward Taliban-linked fighters for targeting American troops in Afghanistan, according to American and Afghan officials.
As security agencies connected the dots of the bounty scheme and narrowed in on him, they carried out sweeping raids to arrest dozens of his relatives and associates about six months ago, but discovered that Mr. Azizi had sneaked out of Afghanistan and was likely back in Russia. What they did find in one of his homes, in Kabul, was about half a million dollars in cash.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/world/asia/afghan-russia-bounty-middleman.html
sakabatou
(42,136 posts)The bastard.
keithbvadu2
(36,667 posts)Hey! Trump has his priorities, don'cha know?
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)blue neen
(12,319 posts)It certainly is a possibility, the way he operates.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)sandensea
(21,602 posts)Try Orange County, California!
catbyte
(34,336 posts)Living off his hard earned rubles, no doubt.
louzke9
(296 posts)sneaks back to Russia six months ago? Did someone share classified intel with Putin? Something smells ROTTEN here!
dalton99a
(81,404 posts)Through a layered and complex Hawala system an informal way to transfer money he delivered it to Afghanistan for the missions, the files say. The transfers were often sliced into smaller amounts that routed through several regional countries before arriving in Afghanistan, associates of the arrested businessmen said.
Afghan officials said prizes of as much as $100,000 per killed soldier were offered for American and coalition targets.
Just how the money was dispersed to militants carrying out attacks for the Taliban, and at what level the coordination occurred, remains unclear. But officials say the network had grown increasingly ambitious and was in communication with more senior levels in Taliban military ranks to discuss potential targets.