Staffers at the US Embassy in Afghanistan have been told to get rid of all sensitive information before their planned evacuation, according to a report Friday.
A memo circulated among embassy employees instructed them to destroy documents and desktop computers, National Public Radio said.
Only a small consular staff will remain in the Afghan capital of Kabul and workers without diplomatic experience were asked to leave the country by the end of the month, NPR said.
On Thursday, President Biden ordered the deployment of 3,000 US troops to help 600 already stationed there evacuate the embassy amid fears that the Taliban could overrun Kabul within a matter of weeks.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said officials didn’t want to “wait until it’s too late.”
Meanwhile, US officials have reportedly been negotiating with the Taliban to prevent the embassy from being attacked after American troops withdraw from Afghanistan, the New York Times reported Thursday.
About 4,000 people work at the embassy, including 1,400 Americans, according to the Times.
The moves are intended to prevent a replay of the humiliating, 1975 evacuation of the US Embassy in Saigon near the end of the Vietnam War.
Helicopters landed at 10-minute intervals, including on the embassy’s roof, over two days to airlift more than 7,000 people to safety ahead of the advancing North Vietnamese Army, according to the State Department.
