The mothers of two members of the U.S. military killed in Afghanistan last year say they want a thorough investigation of reports that a Russian military intelligence unit offered bounties to Taliban-linked fighters for the deaths of American soldiers.
One of service members was among three Marines who died in an attack that reports have said may have been related to a bounty that was actually paid.
Felicia Arculeo, whose son Cpl. Robert Hendriks died in the April 8, 2019, attack, also told CNBC “that the parties who are responsible should be held accountable, if that’s even possible.”
Arculeo, who lives in Long Island, N.Y., said she has not been contacted by U.S. intelligence or military officials since Friday.
That was the day that The New York Times broke the news that American intelligence agencies had assessed that a Russian intelligence unit last year offered bounties to Islamist fighters in Afghanistan who killed U.S. soldiers.
Another mom, Shawn Gregoire, whose Army paratrooper son Spc. Michael Isaiah Nance was killed last July in a so-called insider attack by an Afghan soldier in Tarin Kowt, in southern Afghanistan, said she and other parents of killed soldiers should have been notified of the intelligence about the bounties.
No reports have identified her son’s death as a possible case of a Russian-bounty-motivated killing.
But Gregoire said the fact that the attack was committed by an insider, who was captured after the shooting, makes her suspicious that a bounty may have played a role.
“I really want someone to get to the bottom of this,” Gregoire told CNBC.
The Times has also reported that President Donald Trump had been briefed on the intelligence months ago, but as of yet had not decided on whether or how to retaliate against Russia after being presented with a menu of options. The Associated Press, meanwhile, reported that Trump was briefed on the alleged bounties in March 2019, the month before Hendriks and the two other Marines were killed.
Other news outlets, including NBC News, have confirmed that there is intelligence backing up the claim that a Russian unit offered bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
“I just happened to randomly see” the news about the report, Arculeo said.
“I got pretty upset.”
Her 25-year-old son, Hendriks, and the other two Marines, Sgt. Benjamin Hines, 31, and 43-year-old Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman, were killed by a car bomb near Bagram Air Field. The three Marines, who had been assigned to the 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, died just days before they were scheduled to return home from Afghanistan.
On Sunday, The Associated Press reported that officials said the intelligence community was investigating whether the attack was linked to the suspected Russian bounty offer.
An official familiar with the intelligence told NBC News that the United States has gathered information showing that Russian operatives paid bounties for killing American soldiers to the Taliban, and that members of the U.S. military, along with Afghan civilians, died as a result of attacks launched to collect those cash rewards.
Arculeo said that the possible link of the attack that killed her son to Russian bounties should continue to be probed despite the White House’s claim that the intelligence about the bounties is not verified.
“Absolutely, that should be investigated,” she said.
Asked what should be done if it is determined that Russia paid a bounty for the killing of her son, Arculeo said, “Look, that’s a tough question.”
“At the end of the day, my son is still gone. He’s still not coming home,” she said.
Gregoire, whose son was known by his middle name, Isaiah, was fatally shot July 29, 2019, with another soldier, Pfc. Brandon Jay Kreischer, by an Afghan soldier who was being trained by U.S. military.
Nance, who was 24 years old, was on the verge of re-enlisting in the Army, where he served with the 82nd Airborne, for another three-year-stint, and planned to make the military his career, his mom said.
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/mom-of-marine-killed-in-afghanistan-wants-russia-bounty-claim-investigated.html