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KABUL: The Taliban on Saturday denied US media reports saying that a Russian intelligence unit secretly rewarded them for targeting American troops in Afghanistan.
“We have heard these reports and they are false and baseless,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, told Arab News over the phone.
He added that the group had “neither sought nor received any aid from any country or intelligence agency in 19 years of war.”
Mujahid argued the Taliban have not been in possession of any advanced weapons, which according to him implies they had not received any foreign arms.
“We have used whatever resources we have had in Afghanistan or prepared for example roadside and car bombs from explosives and materials available locally.”
The Taliban, Mujahid said, have not been in possession of any advanced weapons to conduct sophisticated attacks on US targets, which could imply they had received foreign arms.
“We have used whatever resources we have had in Afghanistan or prepared for example roadside and car bombs from explosives and materials available locally.”
He said the group has not targeted the US military since the two sides signed a peace deal in Doha, Qatar, in late February. In accordance with the agreement, American troops should leave Afghanistan by spring 2021.
Earlier on Saturday, the New York Times and two other American dailies reported that American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan and targeting American troops.
Mujahid commented that some circles in the US were disappointed by the Doha deal. “They want to prevent the withdrawal of Americans from here because they will lose the resources and income they have earned from continuing the war and want to do everything for their survival,” he said.
While Russia itself had suffered a disgraceful retreat after nearly 10 years of occupying Afghanistan in the 1980s, it has joined Iran, Pakistan and China in opposing the presence of American troops in the country.
Although Afghan officials in the past have not found any direct military links between the Taliban and Moscow, some provincial officials said that Russians provided intelligence to the group when it captured the northern city of Kunduz near the border with Tajikistan in 2015 and 2016. 
According to analyst Zabihullah Pakteen, Russia has been a vocal supporter of the Taliban in their war against Daesh. He suggested that the US report on bounties could be referring to developments from before the Qatar deal and leaking it now could be linked to the pullout of American troops.
“Russian involvement in Afghanistan in giving bounties to kill US soldiers certainly puts pressure on the Trump administration as US election approaches. The most important aspect of intelligence leaking could be very well connected to troops withdrawal … so the US would have to stay to confront Russia and other adversaries in the region,” he told Arab News. 
Some 4,400 out of 13,000 American troops have already left Afghanistan following the Doha deal.
Their withdrawal and ending America’s wars abroad was one of US President Donald Trump’s main campaign promises. The allegation of Taliban-Russian links, which could delay the troop pullout, comes as Trump is running for a second term in the White House in November’s election.