For the first time, the original Pakistani cypher — cable I-0678, the document that triggered the removal of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan — released in full by Drop Site.
The classified document, known as a cypher, shows that State Department diplomats had threatened in 2022 that Pakistan would suffer greatly if Khan remained in office, but that “all would be forgiven” if he were removed in a no-confidence vote.
The Biden administration was infuriated over Khan’s refusal to grant rights for U.S. drone bases in Pakistan, as well as his neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.
@MazMHussain | @ryangrim | @worqas
🔗 Read the full story at Drop Site News
🚨BREAKING: The original cypher, cable I-0678, the document that triggered the removal of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan released by Drop Site.
This is the cable at the center of the "regime change" controversy.
Leaked 'cipher' hints at US' role in Imran's ouster
Purported text of secret cable shows US ire at Imran Khan
Did Imran's neutrality in the Ukraine war anger the US?
@eriknjoka brings you this report
🇵🇰🇺🇸 The cable that toppled a government is finally public.
On March 7, 2022, Pakistan's ambassador in Washington sat down with U.S. assistant secretary of state Donald Lu. The message was short and clear, remove Imran Khan through a no-confidence vote and Washington will look the other way. "All will be forgiven," the ambassador later recalled. Thirty three days later, Khan was gone.
But this didn't start with that meeting. In June 2021, CIA Director William Burns personally flew to Islamabad to meet Khan. Waited a full day. Khan never showed. Said he'd only speak to his counterpart, meaning Biden, who had been dodging Khan's calls since day one. Burns left with nothing. Weeks later Khan went on record with Axios and just said it out loud, "Absolutely not. There is no way we are going to allow any bases, any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan." No diplomatic cushioning, no ambiguity.
Washington had its answer. Pakistan's military had seen enough of their own prime minister.
In July 2021, behind Khan's back, the military quietly put a former CIA Islamabad station chief on retainer as a lobbyist in Washington. The generals were already cutting their own deal.
Then came the moment that sealed it. On February 24, 2022, the exact day Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Khan was in Moscow shaking hands with Putin on a long scheduled visit. Biden's national security advisor Sullivan had personally called Islamabad days before urging them to cancel. Khan didn't budge. Pakistan then abstained on the UN vote condemning the invasion. Washington was done.
Weeks later came the Lu meeting. The cable. And then Khan was out.
What followed was a gut punch. Artillery shells started flowing to Ukraine secretly through U.S. defense contractors. American support for Pakistan's IMF lifeline was explicitly tied to keeping that weapons pipeline running. Pakistan got its $3 billion bailout in July 2023. In February 2024 the military brazenly rigged the elections and the U.S. and EU sat on their hands and said nothing.
And Khan? Buried under a never ending conveyor belt of charges, corruption, contempt, national security, one case collapsing only for another to appear. He has been behind bars for nearly 3 years now. His wife still in prison. His party outlawed, stripped of its electoral symbol, barred from even fielding candidates under its own name.
The cypher was always real. They called it fake, jailed the man who leaked it, and hoped everyone would move on. They didn't.
Source: Drop Site News
لگ بھگ چار سال کے وقفے کے بعد پاکستان میں اُس مبینہ سائفر کی بازگشت دوبارہ سُنائی دے رہی ہے جسے ’سیاسی فائدے کے لیے استعمال‘ کرنے کی پاداش میں عمران خان اور شاہ محمود قریشی کو دس، دس سال قید کی سزا سُنائی گئی تھی۔
https://t.co/c2KUtUMXkE
The released Cypher doc by @DropSiteNews now provide evidence of interference in Pakistan’s democratic process, then an immediate independent investigation is essential and accountability must follow without exception. The arbitrary detention of @ImranKhanPTI must end immediately. @FCDOGovUK@EU_Commission
Pakistan military orchestrated Imran Khan’s removal to repair frayed ties with US—Drop Site report
Debdutta Chakraborty @debdutta_c reports for ThePrint
https://t.co/guqMlINNYy
📜Drop Site News is publishing below the full transcript of Cable I-0678 — the classified Pakistani diplomatic cypher dated March 7, 2022, at the center of Imran Khan’s claim that the United States orchestrated his removal from power.
The document was previously described by The Intercept, which first reported on its contents in August 2023. The Intercept’s source, who had access to the document as a member of the military, spoke of growing disillusionment with Pakistan’s military leadership and the impact on military morale following its involvement in the political fight against Khan.
The source said they hoped the document “would finally confirm what ordinary people, as well as the rank and file of the armed forces, had long suspected about the Pakistani military, and force a reckoning within the institution.” They warned the military was pushing Pakistan toward a crisis similar to the one in 1971 that led to the secession of Bangladesh.
Drop Site is now publishing the document in full so that it may be part of the historical record.
‘All will be forgiven’? SECRET document claims US involvement in Imran Khan’s ouster as Pak PM. The mystery of cypher - cable I-0678
READ: https://t.co/rkyS32hkNR
https://t.co/rkyS32hkNR
Stolen mandate. Engineered power.
Same old mission: keep Imran Khan out and silence the people. But Pakistan knows exactly what this Daaku-Duffer Alliance is.
#سائفر_ایک_حقیقت
The redactions next to the addressee list at the end of the cypher are significant. They point both to the source of the leak and to who was not the source.
Contrary to some speculation, the copy released by Drop Site did not originate from the prime minister’s office. It came from within the Pakistani military, from an individual disillusioned with the direction of the country’s leadership.
The cable was distributed to multiple recipients, all of whom retained their copies through the end of 2024. Drop Site obtained its copy from one of those military recipients.
A leaked Pakistani diplomatic cable has reignited controversy surrounding the removal of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, with his supporters claiming the document supports allegations of US involvement in his ouster.
Investigative outlet Drop Site published what it described as the original classified “cypher” repeatedly referenced by Khan as proof of a foreign conspiracy against his government.
The document reportedly details a meeting between Pakistan’s then ambassador to Washington and senior US State Department official Donald Lu shortly before Khan was removed through a no-confidence vote in April 2022.
#ImranKhan #Pakistan #US #PakistanPolitics #ImranKhan
'CIA chief waited to meet Imran Khan, he refused': Report reveals US role in ex-Pak PM's ouster
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https://t.co/0hWzulLv6J
Long after Imran Khan said there is proof of #US meddling in #Pakistan's affairs, the cables documenting this interference are now out for public records. https://t.co/fKF7KIyQ0R