Internal US memo warned of Afghanistan crisis

An internal US State Department memo last month warned of the potential collapse of Kabul soon after the scheduled August 31 troop withdrawal deadline.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Picture: AFP

An internal US State Department memo last month warned of the potential collapse of Kabul soon after the scheduled August 31 troop withdrawal deadline, ­according to an ­official familiar with the document.

The classified cable represents the clearest evidence yet that the Biden administration had been warned by its own officials on the ground that the Taliban’s advance was imminent and the ­Afghanistan military may not be able to stop it.

The cable, sent via the State Department’s confidential “dissent channel”, warned of rapid territorial gains by the Taliban and the subsequent collapse of Afghan security forces, and offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and speed up an evacuation.

The cable, dated July 13, also called for the State Department to use tougher language in describing the atrocities being committed by the Taliban.

As of last weekend, some 18,000 Afghans who applied for the US’s Special Immigrant Visa program, as well as their families, remained on the ground in Afghanistan, with about half of them outside Kabul in areas ­already under Taliban control.

Since then, efforts to get them to Kabul airport have grown more difficult by the day.

In all, 23 US embassy staffers, all Americans, signed the July 13 cable. The official said there was a rush to deliver it, given circumstances on the ground in Kabul.

The cable was sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of Policy Planning Salman Ahmad. Mr Blinken received the cable and reviewed it shortly after receipt, according to the person familiar with the exchange, who added that contingency planning was already under way when it was received, and that Mr Blinken welcomed their feedback.

State Department spokesman Ned Price has declined to address the cable, but assured The Wall Street Journal that Mr Blinken reads every dissent cable and reviews every reply.

“He has made it clear that he welcomes and encourages use of the dissent channel, and is committed to its revitalisation,” Mr Price said. “We value constructive internal dissent.”

The existence of the confidential State Department cable adds to an expanding debate over what US officials understood about assessments of the stability in Afghanistan.

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