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Leaked Pakistani cable exposes US role in ex-PM Imran Khan's ...
A leaked Pakistani diplomatic cable has reignited controversy over the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, with investigative outlet Drop Site publishing the original document at the centre of the cricketer-turned-politician's claims of US-backed regime change.Pakistan's cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan. (Reuters/File)New Delhi,UPDATED: May 18, 2026 11:49 ISTA bombshell leak of a top-secret diplomatic cable has thrust former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s "foreign conspiracy" claims back into the spotlight, reviving questions over Washington’s role in his ouster from power.Investigative outlet Drop Site published the original document, known as a cypher, at the centre of the cricketer-turned-politician’s claims of US-backed regime change in Pakistan. The document, identified as cable I-0678, records a meeting between Pakistan’s then-ambassador to Washington and senior US State Department official Donald Lu shortly before Imran Khan lost a no-confidence vote in April 2022.Imran Khan had repeatedly claimed that the US worked behind the scenes to remove him because of his independent foreign policy and refusal to fully align with it against Russia and China. Washington has denied the allegations, saying there was "no truth" to the claims and that Khan never produced evidence proving foreign involvement. Khan also accused Pakistan’s dynastic political parties -- Pakistan Muslim League-N and Pakistan Peoples Party -- of working with foreign powers to topple his government. Both parties rejected the allegations and maintained that Khan’s removal was constitutional and driven by domestic political failures.The no-confidence vote marked the first time a Pakistani Prime Minister had been ousted through such a process. A year later, he was convicted in a corruption case and jailed. Khan has since remained incarcerated.Now, the release of the cable by Drop Site would be a vindication for Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and his supporters, who have stood by their allegations of foreign influence in Islamabad's spheres of power.'ALL WILL BE FORGIVEN'The phrase "all will be forgiven", allegedly used during the conversation between Donald Lu and the Pakistani envoy, is especially telling. It was a not-so-subtle signal that the ouster and jailing of Imran Khan would enable closer ties between Pakistan and the US.Pakistan has long been viewed as a pariah state due to military coups, political and economic instability, and support for proscribed...
Secret cable shows US sought ouster of Imran Khan as Pakistan PM
A classified Pakistani diplomatic cable that Imran Khan has long cited as proof that the United States engineered his removal from power has been published in full for the first time. Cable I-0678, stamped “secret”, marked “no circulation” and dated March 7, 2022 – published by US investigative news outlet Drop Site News – documents a luncheon meeting between Pakistan’s then ambassador in Washington, Asad Majeed Khan, and Donald Lu, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs. What Lu told the ambassador that afternoon would, within weeks, become the most explosive document in Pakistani political history. A relationship already under strain By early 2022, Washington and Islamabad were barely on speaking terms. President Joe Biden had refused to take Imran Khan’s calls since taking office in January 2021. When CIA Director William Burns flew to Islamabad in June that year to request Pakistani territory for US drone bases following the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, Khan refused to see him, citing protocol. The relationship deteriorated further when Khan flew to Moscow on February 24, 2022 – the same day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine – for a long-scheduled meeting with President Putin. Photographs of the two shaking hands went viral as news of the invasion broke. Days later, Pakistan abstained from a UN General Assembly resolution condemning the invasion, joining China, India and much of the Global South. Washington’s patience, already thin, had run out. What the cable says According to the secret cable, Lu opened the meeting by raising Washington’s frustration with what called as Pakistan’s “aggressively neutral” position on Ukraine, saying it did not seem neutral at all from where the US stood. He said the view in Washington was that this position was tied to Khan personally and to the prime minister’s domestic political needs. When the ambassador pushed back and asked whether the strong US reaction was driven specifically by Pakistan refraining from the UN resolution, Lu was direct. That was not the primary issue but the Moscow visit was, he said. He then told the ambassador, “I think if the no confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister.” He added that if the political situation did not change, isolation of the prime minister “will become very strong from Europe and the United ...
Leaked diplomatic cable on US-Pakistan talks linked to Imran Khan ...
The cable says Washington viewed Imran Khan's Russia visit on February 24, 2022, as harmful to US-Pakistan relations and suggested tensions could ease if a no-confidence motion succeeded.
Imran Khan diplomatic cable reveals damning picture
Drop Site News have released a "historic" Pakistani diplomatic cable revealing that U.S. officials tied forgiveness for Pakistan's Russia-friendly actions to Imran Khan's 2022 removal from ...
