ニューヨーク・タイムズさんのインスタグラム写真 - (ニューヨーク・タイムズInstagram)「The recent assessment that Russia paid bounties to the Taliban to attack U.S. troops stunned many, but officials said the Kremlin’s outreach began almost a decade ago. In interviews, Afghan and American officials and foreign diplomats with years of experience in Kabul say that what began as a diplomatic channel between Russia and the Taliban to fight the Islamic State has more recently blossomed into a mutually beneficial alliance that has allowed the Kremlin to reassert its influence in the region. The shift coincided with increasing hostility between the United States and Russia over Syria’s civil war and other conflicts, analysts say, as well as Russia’s frustration with rising instability in Afghanistan and the slow pace of the U.S. pullout. Now, the United States is conducting the troop withdrawal it agreed to with the Taliban even, without a final peace deal between the insurgents and the Afghan government that the Americans have supported for years. But Russia’s covert efforts, officials and analysts say, are aimed at harassing and embarrassing the United States as the troops leave rather than profoundly changing the course of the conflict. Tap the link in our bio to read how Russia, once an enemy of the Taliban, built a channel to the group. Reporting by @mujmash. Photo of soldiers at the Bala Hissar military base in the city of Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan, which was overrun by the Taliban in 2015, by @jimhuylebroek.」7月14日 8時00分