Secret State Department cable warned of Afghan collapse in July, report says

Dissent memos used for diplomats to constructively criticise US policy

Secret State department cables warned in July that the Afghanistan government could quickly collapse following the US withdrawal later this month, a report says.

Around two dozen officials from the US Embassy in Kabul gave the Biden administration the stark warning in a 13 July cable to the department’s “dissent channel”, according to The Wall Street Journal.

That is where American diplomats are encouraged to confidentially share constructive criticism of White House policy.

The diplomats feel as if their concerns were ignored and deemed alarmist, which led to the dissent memo, two State Department officials told CNN.

Dissent memos are normally reviewed by the Secretary of State, according to the news network.

The classified cable warned of the large territorial gains that had been made by Taliban fighters and the lack of resistance being put up by the country’s own security forces, as well as recommendations to speed up the evacuation of Americans and its allies, two officials told the Journal.

It also called for the State Department to use stronger language in describing atrocities being carried out by the fundamentalist group, one official said.

They called for the start of a biometric enrolment programme for the Afghans applying for Special Immigrant Visas or refugee status before the evacuation in case the government collapsed.

US intelligence had warned the White House that the Taliban could eventually overthrow the US-backed government in Kabul, but the speed with which the Taliban swept back into power caught many by surprise.

Mt Biden has defended the chaotic scenes at Kabul’s international airport, which saw thousands of desperate Afghans storm the runway to try and climb onto planes leaving the country.

The president told ABC News that there was now way for the US to have left the country “without chaos ensuing.”

Pentagon officials said that 7,000 people had been evacuated from the country since Saturday, including 2,000 in the last 24-hours.

There are thought to be up to 15,000 Americans remaining the country, and tens of thousand of Afghans who helped the US over the past 20 years.