By Idrees Ali and Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government said on Friday that a dozen countries, from Europe to the Middle East and Central Asia, will allow Americans and others evacuated from Kabul to transit their territory as it steps up its evacuation efforts from Afghanistan. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Bahrain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey, the UAE, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan had already begun or will soon begin transiting Americans, or in some circumstances others, through their territories. Reuters first reported that Germany and other countries in the Middle East had agreed to temporarily host people evacuated from Kabul. The United States is desperately trying to evacuate thousands of people from Afghanistan as reports of Taliban reprisals against Afghans who worked with U.S.-led forces increase, forcing foreign powers to accelerate the evacuation effort. But officials said no evacuation flights
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About two dozen U.S. diplomats in Afghanistan sent an internal cable last month warning Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the potential fall of Kabul to the Taliban as U.S. troops withdrew from the country, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The newspaper said the confidential cable sent through a so-called dissent channel was signed on July 13 and offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and accelerate an evacuation. The administration has been criticized for leaving efforts to get American diplomats and other citizens, as well Afghan allies, out of the country, until after a Taliban takeover was well underway. U.S. officials declined to confirm specific details or share the contents of the cable. I think the cable reflects what we ve said all along, which is nobody had this exactly right in predicting that the government and army of Afghanistan were going to collapse in a matter of days, White House deputy national security adviser J