Trump was briefed that China sought to pay non-state actors to attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan

President Donald Trump received information earlier this month that China sought to pay non-state actors to attack American forces in Afghanistan, a senior administration official said.
The intelligence, which will be declassified by the Trump administration, was provided to the President in his daily brief on December 17, the official said. His national security adviser Robert O’Brien discussed the information with the President that same day, the official said.
News of the briefing and the administration’s intention to declassify the information was first reported on Wednesday by Axios.
Information of this alleged intelligence is thus far uncorroborated. The scenario is reminiscent of reports earlier this year that Russia allegedly offered Afghan militants bounties to kill US forces in Afghanistan. That information also appeared in the President’s intelligence briefing although it was later revealed that the information likely went unnoticed for weeks.Trump has yet to publicly call Russia out on the issue.While it’s unclear whether President-elect Joe Biden has seen the intelligence, he would have had access to the same intelligence since he receives the President’s Daily Brief.
The White House and the Biden transition team didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
CNN reported in June that Russian intelligence officers for the military intelligence agency GRU had recently offered money to Taliban militants in Afghanistan as rewards if they killed US or UK troops there, according to a European intelligence official. The official told CNN the incentives offered by the Russians had, in their assessment, led to coalition casualties, which would be service members’ deaths or injuries. The official did not specify as to the date of the casualties, their number or nationality, or whether these were fatalities or injuries.
Source: ctvnews.ca