For many years, the GRU paid various terrorist groups in Afghanistan for attacks aimed at the US and coalition forces. The Insider managed to find evidence of this program, despite the fact that the US authorities did not officially acknowledge Russia's funding of the killings of American servicemen.
To transfer money to Taliban militants and other groups, Russian intelligence maintained a network of Afghan couriers, disguised as a company trading in precious stones.
From 2016 to 2020, a series of attacks targeted American soldiers and coalition forces in Afghanistan, and these attacks only ended after Trump made a deal with the Taliban to withdraw American troops in early 2020. That same year, a report by US intelligence was leaked to the press, stating that Russian authorities paid the Taliban for killing Western coalition soldiers. The Taliban leadership denied the accusations, and the US authorities did not officially confirm the report's leak.
The Insider spoke with four former Afghan officials, three of whom held senior positions in the National Directorate of Security (NDS) before the Taliban usurped power in the country in 2021. All of them independently reported that these attacks were funded by Russia. The program was outlined by officers of military unit 29155, known for the Skripal poisoning and sabotage in Europe.
The GRU established direct contacts with the Taliban, starting with arms supplies through Tajikistan, which then transformed into funding attacks.
Rewards averaged $200,000 for each killed US or coalition soldier. In total, as calculated by one of the former NDS employees, Russia paid the Taliban at least $30 million. Additionally, he said, large sums were given to other groups in conflict with the authorities, including payments of $15 million received by Northern Alliance leaders in 2017 and 2018.
The Afghan NDS learned of this practice in mid-2019 during interrogations of detained Taliban militants. More than 10 people from the provinces of Kabul, Kunduz, and Logar, who worked for the GRU as couriers and transported money under the leadership of a former smuggler from Kunduz named Rahmatullah Azizi, were arrested. Formally, Azizi headed a precious stone trading company in Afghanistan, registered in his father's name. A similar company was opened by him in Moscow, near the GRU headquarters.
The NDS suspected that at least part of the reward was transferred to the country through smuggled precious stones. Unlike other family members, Rahmatullah Azizi avoided arrest as he fled to Russia before the operation was exposed in 2019. "About $650,000" was seized from his home in Kabul.
The GRU had other cells used to transport money for financing attacks against Western coalition soldiers, all directly subordinate to officers of unit 29155.
The head of the attack financing program, as discovered by The Insider, was Lieutenant General Ivan Kasyanenko, deputy commander of unit 29155. Since 2008, he served as a military attaché in Tehran, and after 2015 he was transferred to Kabul.
Some of the Afghans used as couriers emigrated to Western Europe after 2020 under the guise of refugees from the Taliban. The publication Der Spiegel found that at least two of them applied for asylum in Germany shortly after visiting Russia on invitations received from the GRU. They were denied, but not deported.
In 2020, Trump made an agreement with the Taliban for a gradual troop withdrawal, which led to the Taliban's seizure of power. After this, the GRU continued to cooperate with the Taliban quite officially.
* Recognized in Russia as a "foreign agent" and "undesirable" organization.
** The Russian authorities have made a "principled decision" to exclude the Taliban from the list of "terrorist organizations," in which it is formally included.