The US intelligence alleged that the Russian military offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan to murder American soldiers and other coalition forces.

According to a report by the New York Times, the US had determined months ago that Russian military intelligence unit connected with the assassination attempts in Europe had granted rewards for successful attacks last year.

The White House, the CIA, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence refused to comment on the NYT report on the request of Reuters.

The Times said that President Donald Trump has been briefed on the intelligence finding. The White House yet to authorize steps to take action.

According to the newspaper, the Taliban operation was led by a unit known as the GRU, which has been blamed in numerous international incidents including a 2018 chemical weapons attack in Britain that nearly killed Russian-born double agent Sergei Skripal.

Times said that it was not clear about the 20 Americans killed in which deaths were under suspicion.

NYT said that after nearly 20 years of fighting the Taliban, the United States is looking for a way to extricate itself from Afghanistan and to achieve peace between the U.S.-backed government and the militant group, which controls swaths of the country.