The official described the recent intelligence as ‘rumors’ and a lack of ‘hard evidence’.
But Trump officials are handling the allegations involving Chinese agents in Afghanistan, rather than Moscow earlier this year.
Trump initially denounced media reports about the alleged Russian bounties and called them a “joke”. He said intelligence officials told him he was not informed of the allegations at the time because they did not find them credible.
The Russian allegations have since been largely dismissed. “It just wasn’t there,” the senior U.S. official said.
Still, O’Brien briefed Trump and members of the national security team on the latest allegations of Chinese activities in Afghanistan on Dec. 17 and convened a national Security Council coordination committee on the issue on Dec. 22, one administration official said.
The US “treats this information with caution, but any information or reports regarding the security of US forces is something we take very seriously,” the official said.
President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team will try to ‘learn as much as possible about these allegations’, a transition official said, noting that the news’ is another illustration of why we need full cooperation from the Pentagon ‘. Earlier this week, Biden accused the leadership of the Department of Defense of obstructing the transition.
“As president, Joe Biden will take into account anyone who wants to endanger brave Americans,” the official said. “Nevertheless, we are not going to talk about alleged intelligence reporting, nor with the motivation behind the release of the report. be unsophisticated information. ”
The new allegations involve potential Chinese incentives for ‘Afghan non-state actors’, in contrast to the militant Taliban who fought against US forces and the Afghan government, the senior official said the term is commonly used for terrorist groups.
Recent intelligence also suggests that China has pulled down weapons made in China in Afghanistan, the person said.
However, other U.S. defense officials said they would be surprised if the allegations were true, noting that such a move would not be in line with China’s operating style. A former defense official usually said much more ‘cautiously’ with his international behavior, adding that the allegations could be ‘disinformation’.
“I will be surprised, but not shocked,” the person said. “In my experience, the Chinese were less willing to directly harm people in the U.S. service because of its escalating consequences.”
Joint Chief of Staff, Genl. Mark Milley recently met with Taliban representatives in Doha, Qatar, to push for a reduction in violence and to make progress on the stalemate between the militants and the Afghan government. There has been no US martyrdom in Afghanistan since the US signed a peace treaty with the Taliban in February.