Joe Biden admin was warned of Kabul collapse: Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON – An internal State Department memo last month warned top agency officials of the potential collapse of Kabul soon after the US’s Aug 31 troop withdrawal deadline in Afghanistan, according to a US official and a person familiar with the document, reported Wall Street Journal.

The classified cable represents the clearest evidence yet that the administration had been warned by its own officials on the ground that the Taliban’s advance was imminent and Afghanistan’s military may be unable 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 two people said.

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