The State Department sought to redact “wholesale” public reports by the U.S. inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction during the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Kabul, the watchdog said Friday.
Special Inspector General John Sopko said the State Department requested on Aug. 19 that his office remove 2,400 items from publicly available reports “based on unspecified privacy concerns.” The list included such information as the name of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and a reference in one report to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Mr. Sopko called the requests baffling but said his office nevertheless undertook a detailed review of the material that the administration wanted to be removed. He said all but four minor requests were found to be “baseless.”
