WASHINGTON, 31 October 2021, (TON): A US government watchdog on Friday accused the US State Department and Pentagon of suppressing information that lawmakers and the public need to understand the collapse of Afghanistan's former government and military and the chaotic US troop pullout.

John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR), said "the full picture of what happened in August and all the warning signs that could have predicted the outcome will only be revealed if the information that the departments of defence and state have already restricted from public release is made available.”

A US State Department spokesperson said “the department had requested some reports be temporarily removed to redact identifying information from public records and protect the identities of Afghans and Afghan partner organisations due to security concerns about the evacuation effort.”

The spokesperson said "the identifying information are the only details intended to be shielded."

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Addressing reporters, Sopko said that after the Taliban seized Kabul, the US State Department asked him to temporarily suspend online access to certain reports he issued to ensure the safety of US-affiliated Afghans.

The department "was never able to describe any specific threats to individuals that were supposedly contained in our reports", said Sopko, who added he "reluctantly" barred access to the documents.