驻喀布尔大使馆的美国外交官上个月在给美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯和国务院领导的一份机密备忘录中警告说，阿富汗政府面临崩溃的危险随着塔利班的攻势席卷全国，一位熟悉备忘录的消息人士向ABC新闻证实。
该消息人士称，这份异议电报于7月13日发出，并立即引起了布林肯的注意。
美国国务院发言人内德·普莱斯拒绝对这封电报发表评论，称异议电报“严格来说是国务院领导和异议信息作者之间的事”，但他表示，布林肯阅读并回应每封电报，并重视它们的使用。
这是美国官员向拜登政府高级官员发出警告的另一个例子总统退出的决定来自阿富汗，尽管连当地的外交官都不知道崩溃会来得这么快。
电缆首次报道据消息人士称，华尔街日报呼吁拜登政府立即开始对帮助过美国的阿富汗人进行空运。
它还敦促美国政府使用更强硬的语言谴责塔利班的暴行据消息人士称，当他们席卷全国并控制各省时，大使馆、其高级外交官罗斯·威尔逊大使以及最终的国务院都开始了这项工作。
据消息人士称，布林肯阅读了电报并作出了回应，他说“起草者的想法反映了该部门的大部分想法。”电报发出的第二天，政府宣布盟军避难行动开始迁移阿富汗人他协助美国驻美国的军事和外交使团及其家属
但这一行动直到7月下旬才开始，在喀布尔周日陷落之前，只有不到2000名阿富汗人进入美国——这些人已经获得了特殊移民签证，并已经接受了安全审查。根据美国国务院的数据，总共有大约2万名在美国工作的阿富汗人为自己和数万名家庭成员申请了这些签证。
美国两党议员和退伍军人团体等批评政府没有尽早开始行动，没有足够快地将阿富汗人转移到美国，也没有与安全国家达成协议，接纳尚未通过安全审查的阿富汗人。
美国副国务卿温迪·谢尔曼(Wendy Sherman)周三对美国广播公司(ABC News)表示:“人们担心，如果我们动作太快，将削弱阿富汗政府的信心，并导致崩溃得更快。
“我很欣赏人们事后说‘你为什么不这么做?“你为什么不那样做呢，””她补充道。今天的重点是把所有的结构性投资工具都拿出来。"
US diplomats warned of Afghanistan's collapse in dissent cable last month
U.S. diplomats at the embassy in Kabul warned in a classified memo to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the department's leadership last month that the Afghan government wasat risk of collapseas the Taliban offensive swept across the country, a source familiar with the memo confirmed to ABC News.
The dissent cable, as such memos are called at the agency, was sent on July 13 and was immediately brought to Blinken's attention, the source said.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price declined to comment on the cable, saying dissent cables are "strictly between the Department's leadership and the authors of the dissent messages," but said Blinken reads and responds to each and values their use.
It's another example of how U.S. officials had been warning senior Biden administration officials about the risks of thepresident's decision to withdrawfrom Afghanistan, although even diplomats on the ground had no idea the collapse could come so quickly.
The cable, which wasfirst reportedby The Wall Street Journal, called on the Biden administration to begin an airlift operation immediately for Afghans who helped the U.S., according to the source.
It also urged the U.S. government to use stronger language tocondemn the Taliban's atrocitiesas they swept across the country and gained control of provinces, per the source -- something the embassy, its top diplomat Ambassador Ross Wilson and eventually the department started doing around that time.
Blinken read the cable and responded to it, according to the source, who said the "thoughts of the drafters reflected much of the thinking at the department." The day after the cable was sent, the administration announced Operation Allies Refuge tobegin relocating Afghanswho assisted the U.S. military and diplomatic missions and their families to the U.S.
But that operation did not begin until late July, and before Kabul fell on Sunday, it had only brought under 2,000 Afghans to the U.S. -- those who had been approved for special immigrant visas and already undergone security vetting. In total, some 20,000 Afghans who worked for the U.S. have applied for these visas, according to the State Department, for themselves and tens of thousands more family members.
The administration has been criticized by U.S. lawmakers of both parties and veterans groups, among others, for not beginning that operation sooner, moving Afghans to the U.S. quickly enough or securing agreements with safe countries to host Afghans who have not yet passed security vetting.
"There was a concern that if we moved too quickly that it would undermine the confidence of the Afghan government and it would lead to a collapse even faster," Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told ABC News Wednesday.
"I appreciate that in hindsight people are saying, 'Why didn't you do this? Why didn't you do that?'" she added. "The focus now today is getting all those SIVs out."
