My thoughts on Russia paying Afghans a bounty for killing American troops are... complicated.

But the bottom line is that Trump is cozy with Putin in ways he absolutely shouldn’t be, and that nobody in his party is willing to stand up to him. That’s extremely bad.

Like, Russians paying Afghans to kill Americans is obviously not something we, as Americans (especially those of us who wear the uniform) want. It’s bad.

But this phenomenon isn’t new. The Taliban have basically always paid bounties for American lives.

We expect it.

When my Squadron went through the Joint Readiness Training Center in 2009 before deploying, the “enemy” put out “bounties” on every Troop commander, maybe even every officer. It was a way to show us what to expect in country. And the Taliban absolutely did it.

This is the same Taliban we are currently negotiating with and which will undoubtedly play a role in the governing of Afghanistan going forward.

We paid for information leading to the capture or death of enemy combatants, too. Did we pay people to kill them? Not that I’m aware.

But have we, as Americans, done so in the past? Would we in the future?

I’m not saying it’s what you’d call a “best practice,” and I’m sure I’ll catch flak for saying this, but the line between a Russian paying an Afghan who kills an American soldier and an American SF team training and paying guerrilla leaders isn’t as thick/clear as you may think.

And I recognize that there’s a big difference between the Taliban doing it and Russia, a significant state power and geopolitical rival(?) to the US. It’s not exactly apples to apples.

But at the same time, does that matter so much to the guys dodging the bullets?

Would it matter to me if the guy shooting at me is getting paid in rubles versus afghani? Maybe. Honestly, it’s hard to say. It wouldn’t matter *at the moment I’m getting shot at,* that’s for sure.

I guess what I’m getting at here is that — while I don’t like it and I think the Russians are fucking snakes and basically always have been — I don’t take it personally. It’s okay if you do, or would. But I don’t.

I still think Russia should pay a price for it. That’s the game.

And I think it’s super shitty that nobody in the GOP thinks American soldiers are worthy of standing up to Russia for. But did anyone honestly expect any different? I didn’t. I’ve known for a long time that they don’t *actually* give a shit about us. We are just props for them.

So, yeah. That’s that.