Critics Of US-Taliban Deal Say Militants Can’t Be Trusted

WASHINGTON (AP) – Intelligence alleging that Afghan militants might have accepted Russian bounties for killing American troops didn’t scuttle the U.S.-Taliban agreement or President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw thousands more troops from the war. But it’s given critics of the deal more reason to claim the Taliban shouldn’t be trusted. The U.S. agreed to remove all its troops by May 2021 and the Taliban pledged, among other things, to break ties with al-Qaida. Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, says he remains skeptical that the Taliban will honor its commitment. So far, Trump has reduced U.S. troops from 12,000 to 8,600 and is contemplating how quickly to pull out more