because they were watching what was unfolding in the country. they predicted that the afghan government would fall by the time the u.s. military completely withdrew in august. and they were frustrated that there wasn t enough being done to mitigate against a chaotic situation when that happened. now, deputy national security adviser john finer spoke with wolf blitzer about this dissent memo and said that they did predict that the afghan government would fall but not as quickly as it did. i think that the dabl re cab reflects what we ve said all along, nobody had it right that the afghan army would collapse in a matter of days. reporter: and certain things that they suggested that the biden administration quickly inch pr implemented. but also things in there that weren t. ned price said that the secretary of state reads all dissent memos, so therefore he would have read this one. and he reviews all the responses
no one predicted it would happen this quickly. he also said that some of the things that were in that dissent memo were actually acted upon by the administration. that is significant, but we have to recognize that a dissent memo is the last-ditch effort for diplomats. they don t want to write to the secretary of state saying that their voices aren t being heard, but that s what they had to do here. so what this boils down to is that they thought things should have been done more early than they were. and they felt like they weren t being heard at the embassy. that s why they wrote to the secretary of state. and one of the things that they did propose is a biometric enrollment program for these afghans, so that when you re starting to get them out of the country, you already have this program, this list to look at. because that wasn t done quickly, that was one of the many things that is a major issue now. that would have been easier. that would have been useful. jeff, the presence
to them. he also said that this administration values dissent memos and they implement what is said in there into their policy planning. but it is noteworthy that there even was a dissent memo in the first place. it tells you that these diplomats were already frustrated because this is a last ditch effort that diplomats make when they feel that their voices aren t being heard and they want to tell the secretary about what they are seeing. k thank you. and cnn has learned that the white house wants to focus on what is going on at home. keeping the focus on critical domestic issues. cnn is live on capitol hill next. things you start when you re 45. coaching. new workouts. and screening for colon cancer. yep. the american cancer society recommends screening starting at age 45, instead of 50,
and it s significant that they even wrote this dissent memo, in the first place, because it s not the first thing that diplomats do. this is a last-ditch effort. it s when they don t feel their voices are being heard. and then, they write to the secretary of state in hopes that their input will implement some changes. now, the significance here is that president biden has been asked about what went wrong. and he is essentially saying, as recently as in that abc interview, that this was inevitable. that this chaos that we are seeing unfold was going to happen. but what this dissent memo shows is that these diplomats felt like there was action that could have been taken more rapidly to mitigate at least some of this chaos from unfolding so that you could get these afghans out of the country more quickly. has there been any response from the state department or secretary blinken about this? well, deputy national security adviser, john finer, spoke with wolf blitzer about it earlier th
the afghan government was going to fall by the time of the complete u.s. troop withdrawal. but he also said that, listen, there was also a lot of other folks who were predicting that. no one predicted it was going to happen as quickly as it did. he also said that there were certain aspects of this memo that were implemented. now, state department spokesperson said secretary of state reads every single dissent memo. therefore, of course, he read this one. he reviews the response to it. but as i said, the fact that it was even written is significant and you can be rest assured that those on the hill who are looking for answers as to what went wrong here are going to want to review this, in detail. and see what was done and what wasn t done that these diplomats were suggesting. yeah. anderson. kylie atwood, thanks very. appreciate it. joining us now, ryan crocker, former u.s. ambassador to afghanistan, pakistan, syria, and iraq. ambassador crocker, appreciate you being on with us