A new leaked cable — and what it reveals about the Biden administration’s foreign policy

The Intercept just published a secret cable exposing how an official in Joe Biden’s State Department privately pushed for the removal of Pakistan’s popular prime minister.

A month later, Imran Khan was out of office. Today, he sits in prison.

The text of the leaked document shows that the U.S. threatened severe consequences, including international isolation, if Khan remained in office — a signal that Pakistan’s powerful military, which receives billions in U.S. military aid, appears to have taken seriously.

My colleagues and I are committed to getting to the bottom of this story, but we’re up against incredible odds: Extreme government repression in Pakistan makes reporting very difficult for domestic outlets. And meanwhile, very few American outlets can still afford to do original reporting overseas — and even fewer of them have an appetite for challenging the State Department’s spin machine.

Just look at the New York Times’ Pakistan correspondent who immediately began recklessly speculating that Khan’s party was The Intercept’s source for the cable — a dangerous falsehood that underlines the need for independent journalism.

I know that as an Intercept reader, you still care about how the U.S. — even under a Democratic president — continues to consort with authoritarian thugs and undermine democracy.

And that’s why I’m asking you to chip in, so we can continue to investigate what happened in Pakistan — and what U.S. foreign policy looks like behind closed doors around the world.

Thank you,