House Committee to View Dissent Cable From Afghanistan Withdrawal

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) arrives at a caucus meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 10, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will be able to view a dissent cable from the time of the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, a victory for the committee’s chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

The committee announced the development on June 5.

McCaul, along with Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), viewed the cable on May 23 at the State Department. Whether committee members will have to go to the department to see it or whether they can view it in the House’s sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) is to be determined, as is when they will view the document, the committee’s deputy communications director, McLaurine Pinover, told The Epoch Times.

“Although I cannot discuss the classified information in the cable, I can say the dissenters were right–and the administration should have listened,” said McCaul in a May 23 statement released by the committee.

McCaul had called on the State Department to let other committee members view the cable as well.

The committee subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken in March for the cable, which, as The Wall Street Journal first reported, shows the U.S. Embassy in Kabul warning the State Department about the Taliban quickly gaining ground and the Afghan forces falling apart. They gave suggestions on how to expedite an evacuation and alleviate the situation.

“The cable, dated July 13 [2021], also called for the State Department to use tougher language in describing the atrocities being committed by the Taliban,” the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with its contents.

The cable was written by 23 State Department officials in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which is no longer in operation.

The Afghanistan withdrawal was completed on Aug. 30, 2021.

The committee said that the accommodation for members of the committee to see the cable satisfies the subpoena, and therefore the effort to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress for not having complied with the subpoena will cease.

“This is an unprecedented step forward in our committee’s investigation into the Afghanistan withdrawal,” said McCaul in the statement.

“For the first time in history, the State Department has agreed to allow Congress to view a dissent channel cable,“ he continued. ”This cable contains firsthand information from Embassy Kabul employees who were on the ground prior to the collapse as well as Secretary Blinken’s response to their concerns. I want to thank Secretary Blinken for negotiating with me in good faith on this.”