在众议院共和党人不断加大的压力下，美国国务院周三表示，将允许选定的国会成员审查美国外交官在美国占领伊拉克的最后几天发送的一份机密通信阿富汗这标志着拜登政府立场的重大转变。
众议院外交事务委员会主席迈克·麦克考尔(Mike McCaul，R-Texas)和该小组的其他共和党人已经对这份文件进行了一个月的追查，有消息称该文件是在2021年7月发出的，并警告国务卿安东尼·布林肯说，阿富汗政府有在塔利班手中崩溃的风险。
麦考尔最初发出了几份文件请求，随后在3月份发出了传票。当国务院拒绝遵守时，他威胁称布林肯藐视国会甚至计划在未来几天就此事举行听证会。
周三，国务院首席副发言人韦丹特·帕特尔(Vedant Patel)表示，国务院将于周一致函麦考尔和该委员会的首席民主党人、纽约州众议员格雷戈里·米克斯(Gregory Meeks)，让他们有机会私下审查这份被称为“异议电报”的文件，只有涉及部门人员的身份信息才会被编辑。
2023年5月15日，美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯在国务院发表国际宗教自由报告。
乔纳森·恩斯特/路透社
“麦克考尔主席自己说这是他感兴趣的，”帕特尔说。
美国广播公司新闻获得了这封信的副本，其中指出，国务院准备“尽快”将这封电报“作为额外的特别通融”提供给两位国会议员。
这封信还指出，该部正在向麦克考尔和米克斯发出邀请，“尽管异议频道电缆的额外披露可能会进一步阻止该部员工在未来使用异议频道进行内部审议。”
国务院一再拒绝出示这份电报，辩称异议渠道需要得到保护，以保持其完整性，并向麦克考尔和委员会的其他成员提供了一份闭门简报和一份文件摘要。
尽管政府做出了让步，帕特尔明确表示，国务院仍然认为其先前的披露充分满足了国务院的需要。
他说:“我们相信，我们已经通过我们的机密简报和书面总结提供了足够的信息，我们相信这些努力已经并将满足他们对信息的要求。”。
在周一的一次电视采访中，麦克考尔称国务院的提议是“向前迈出的真正重要的一步”
麦克考尔说，他唯一剩下的问题是，委员会的其他成员，包括阿富汗战争的退伍军人，也将无法查看该文件。
“如果我们能解决这最后一步，那么我认为我们已经在法庭上解决了一场诉讼战，”麦克考尔说。
State Department relents, will allow Congress to review Afghanistan 'dissent cable'
Amid intensifying pressure from House Republicans, the State Department said Wednesday it will allow select members of Congress to review a classified communication sent by American diplomats during the final days of the U.S. occupation ofAfghanistan, marking a significant reversal in the Biden administration's position.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, and other Republicans on the panel have been engaged in a monthslong pursuit of the document that sources say was sent in July 2021 and warned Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the government of Afghanistan was at risk of collapse at the hands of the Taliban.
McCaul initially issued several requests for the document, followed by a subpoena in March. When the State Department refused to comply, hethreatened to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress, going as far as to schedule a hearing on the matter in the coming days.
On Wednesday, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said the department would send a letter on Monday offering McCaul and the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, an opportunity to privately review the document, known as a "dissent cable," and that only identifying information of department personnel involved would be redacted.
"Chairman McCaul himself has said this is what he is interested in," Patel said.
ABC News obtained a copy of the letter, which states that the State Department is prepared to make the cable available "as an additional extraordinary accommodation" to the two members of Congress "as soon as possible."
The letter also notes that the department is extending the invitation to McCaul and Meeks "despite the materially increased risk that additional disclosures of the Dissent Channel cable could further deter Department employees from using the Dissent Channel in the future for its intended purposes of informing internal deliberations."
The State Department had repeatedly declined to produce the cable, arguing the dissent channel needed to be protected to preserve its integrity and offering McCaul and other members of the committee a closed door briefing and a summary of the document instead.
Despite the administration's concession, Patel made it clear that the State Department still saw its previous disclosures as adequately meeting the department's needs.
"We believe that we have provided sufficient information through our classified briefing, through the written summary, and we believe these efforts already should have and would satisfied their request for information," he said.
During a televised interview on Monday, McCaul called the State Department's offer "a really significant step forward."
McCaul said the only remaining issue he had was that the other members of the committee, including veterans of the war in Afghanistan, would not also be able to view the document.
"If we can work out this last step, then I think we've resolved a litigation fight in the courts," McCaul said.
