Under threat of criminal charges from Congress, Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed this week to give lawmakers partial access to classified information about the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.
The State Department informed the House Foreign Affairs Committee that it would allow the committee’s members to review a hotly contested dissent cable, which is believed to show Biden administration officials knew the Taliban would quickly reassume control of the country once American forces departed.
After stonewalling the committee’s investigation for more than a year, the State Department now says that it is willing to partially disclose the document if committee chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas) suspends his bid to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress for obstruction.