Pakistan’s government confirmed that the document at the center of the controversy was a Pakistani diplomatic cable, internally known as a cypher, sent from Washington on March 7, 2022. The article states that State Department officials had previously dismissed Khan’s claim of U.S. pressure, and that spokesperson Matt Miller said: “Nothing in these purported comments shows the United States taking a position on who the leader of Pakistan should be.”

A special court in Pakistan indicted Imran Khan and his deputy on charges tied to a March 2022 classified Pakistani diplomatic cable, internally known as a cipher. The report says the cipher was written by Pakistan’s then-ambassador to the United States and that Khan alleged it documented the United States’ role in toppling his government; Washington and the Pakistani military denied Khan’s allegations.

The text says the classified cable, labeled “Secret,” contains an account of a meeting between State Department officials, including Donald Lu, and Pakistan’s ambassador Asad Majeed Khan. It reports that the cable “reveals both the carrots and the sticks” allegedly used in pressure on Khan, while noting that the cable itself had not previously been published.

The report says a leaked classified diplomatic document, known in Pakistan as a cypher, details a March 2022 conversation between then-Pakistani ambassador Asad Majeed Khan and U.S. diplomat Donald Lu. It says the claims of a U.S. role in Khan’s ouster were quickly denied by Washington, with State Department spokesman Ned Price saying there was “no truth” to the allegations.

The article says a news organization in the United States released what it described as the particulars of a diplomatic “cypher” that implied the U.S. government sought to oust former Prime Minister Imran Khan. It also says Khan claimed the cypher demonstrated a conspiracy orchestrated by the U.S. and his political rivals, while the U.S. denied the allegation.

The page says the diplomatic cable, referred to internally as a cypher, was sent by Pakistan’s then-ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan, after a meeting with U.S. officials. It states that the U.S. side, including the State Department, denied the allegation that the cable showed U.S. involvement in removing Imran Khan.

The Intercept published what it says is the text of the secret Pakistani diplomatic cable (cipher) reporting a conversation between Pakistan’s then-ambassador to the U.S. Asad Majeed Khan and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu in March 2022, concerning Imran Khan and the no-confidence motion against him.[1] The U.S. State Department, through spokesperson Matthew Miller, refused to confirm or deny the authenticity of the document, saying: "We do not comment on purportedly leaked private diplomatic exchanges" and rejected claims of U.S. pressure to remove Imran Khan.[1] The article describes the document as a Pakistani diplomatic cable summarizing U.S. officials’ remarks, not as a U.S.-authored cable directed against Imran Khan.[1]

The report says a Pakistani special court indicted Imran Khan over allegedly leaking a secret diplomatic cable sent from Washington on March 7, 2022, and that Khan had accused the document of showing U.S. involvement in his removal. It also notes that the Pakistani government and U.S. officials denied the accusation.

A 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.

BBC Urdu explains that on 27 March 2022, Imran Khan waved a "threatening" diplomatic cable (keبل) at a public rally, claiming it showed that a foreign power wanted to remove his government.[10] The report describes this as a **Pakistani diplomatic cable** sent by Pakistan’s ambassador, in which according to Imran Khan the American diplomat used threatening language, but it does not state that the United States government issued a U.S. diplomatic cable or cipher against Imran Khan.[10]

BBC Urdu’s analysis of the published cipher text notes that The Intercept claimed the document was a cable written by Pakistan’s then ambassador Asad Majeed after his conversation with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu.[8] The article emphasizes that this was a Pakistani diplomatic document summarizing the meeting, and that Imran Khan later used it to allege that the U.S. was behind the no-confidence motion against him.[8] It does not describe any U.S. government cable directed against Imran Khan; rather, it covers a Pakistani cipher reporting U.S. officials’ remarks.[8]

A classified diplomatic document that opponents say triggered the removal and eventual imprisonment of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has resurfaced at the center of renewed geopolitical scrutiny. The controversy traces back to a leaked diplomatic cable, commonly referred to in Pakistan as the “cipher,” which Khan publicly cited in 2022 as evidence of foreign pressure tied to his removal from office.

Independent Urdu reports that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Donald Lu stated that Imran Khan’s claim that the cipher was an American conspiracy is "a complete lie" and that "this allegation and conspiracy theory are false and baseless."[6] It explains that the cipher at issue was a **diplomatic document sent by Pakistan’s then ambassador Asad Majeed from Washington**, and that Imran Khan’s case was based on his public disclosure of the contents of this Pakistani diplomatic communication.[6] The piece presents the U.S. position that there was no American plot and characterizes the cipher as Pakistani diplomatic correspondence, not as a U.S. cable directed against Imran Khan.[6]

The much-discussed 7th March 2022 cipher, received by the Foreign Ministry from the then Pakistani ambassador to the US, was never declassified, according to sources cited by The News International. The report says the cipher was the subject of the case against Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

New Delhi: More than a year after Imran Khan brandished a document at a public rally, claiming it was a diplomatic cable that substantiated US effort to dethrone him from the position of Prime Minister of Pakistan, a news website based in the United States released the purported classified document on Wednesday, August 9. The encrypted message, published by The Intercept, allegedly quotes a senior US diplomat suggesting that Pakistan’s relations with US and Europe would improve if the former cricketer was not at the helm. The alleged diplomatic cable at the centre of the political controversy was based on the discussions at the lunch sent by the Pakistani diplomat to headquarters in Islamabad.

Dawn Urdu notes that The Intercept published the alleged text of the cipher, claiming it had obtained the document from an anonymous source in the Pakistan military.[3] Dawn describes the document as the text of a **Pakistani diplomatic cipher** written by Ambassador Asad Majeed after meeting U.S. official Donald Lu, and discusses controversy over whether the published text is authentic.[3] The article does not report any U.S. diplomatic cable issued against Imran Khan; it focuses on a Pakistani embassy cable recounting U.S. officials’ statements.[3]

Washington DC [US], May 20 (ANI): The United States State Department has said that Pakistani politics are "a matter for the Pakistani people to decide" following the publication of a classified diplomatic cable that alleges a senior American diplomat told Islamabad that "all will be forgiven" in Washington if then-Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office. Reported by Dropsite, Cable I-0678, stamped "secret" and marked "no circulation", dated 7 March 2022, 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. However, even then, those claims had been rebuffed by the US, with the then US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu rebuffing the cypher allegations, denouncing them as a "conspiracy theory, lie, and complete falsehood."

Dawn Urdu reports that Pakistan’s federal cabinet was briefed that a copy of the diplomatic cipher, related to the alleged U.S. threat Imran Khan had claimed, was missing from the Prime Minister’s House record.[5] The cabinet statement said it was revealed that "the relevant diplomatic cipher’s copy is missing from the PM House record," referring to the cable Imran Khan brandished as evidence of an American threat.[5] The report treats the cipher as a Pakistani diplomatic document that became part of Pakistan’s internal controversy, not as a U.S. government cable sent against Imran Khan.[5]

Juraat’s report on The Intercept leak states that "American media has exposed the famous cipher related to Imran Khan’s government" and that "the American website The Intercept published the text of the cipher" which, according to the story, shows U.S. pressure behind efforts to remove Imran Khan’s government.[14] It explains that former Pakistani ambassador Asad Majeed sent a diplomatic cable from Washington to Islamabad, and Imran Khan has claimed this document contains mention of an American conspiracy against his government.[14] The article frames the cipher as a Pakistani embassy cable reporting on U.S. statements, rather than as a U.S. diplomatic cable issued against Imran Khan.[14]

THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT encouraged the Pakistani government in a March 7, 2022, meeting to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The text of the Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, has not previously been published. The cable, known internally as a “cypher,” reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not.

ETV Bharat Urdu reports that the Islamabad High Court observed there was no evidence that the cipher was in Imran Khan’s custody in the way alleged by the Federal Investigation Agency.[9] It recounts that the controversy centers on a copy of a "secret diplomatic cable" which Imran Khan showed at a public rally, claiming that a foreign power with reference to U.S. diplomat Donald Lu was trying to overthrow his government.[9] The judgment and coverage treat the cipher as a Pakistani diplomatic cable and as an internal Pakistani legal issue, not as an official U.S. government cable directed against Imran Khan.[9]

An explosive leaked document obtained by The Intercept appears to show direct U.S. involvement in former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ouster in 2022 because of his stance on the war in Ukraine. The diplomatic cable published by The Intercept shows State Department officials pressured their Pakistani counterparts to push Khan out because of his neutrality over the war in Ukraine, promising that “all will be forgiven” if he was to be removed. The cable describes a meeting between the Pakistani ambassador to the United States and two State Department officials that Imran Khan has repeatedly cited as leading to his political ouster after a no-confidence vote in Parliament.

Geo Urdu’s fact-check reports that an allegedly leaked "secret cable" (diplomatic cipher) circulating on social media, which claimed the U.S. administration wanted former prime minister Imran Khan removed from power, was found to be fake.[4] The piece states clearly that the document being shared as a cipher about Imran Khan is "fake" and not an authentic U.S. or Pakistani diplomatic cable.[4] This shows that at least one widely circulated claim of a secret American cable against Imran Khan has been debunked by a major Pakistani news outlet.[4]

On 17–18 May 2026, Drop Site News published Cable I-0678 in full — the classified Pakistani diplomatic cipher that Imran Khan had cited since April 2022 as evidence of American involvement in his removal. Cable I-0678 — stamped “secret,” marked “no circulation,” dated 7 March 2022 — records Lu telling the Ambassador that Washington’s primary concern was not Pakistan’s UN abstention on Russia but Khan’s Moscow visit itself.

We decode Cable I-0678, which captures a chilling warning from US official Donald Lu: "Remove Khan, or face isolation." A leaked Pakistani diplomatic cable, cable I0678, drags Imran Khan's biggest claim right back into the spotlight. According to the document, Lu told the Pakistani ambassador that Washington's concerns about Khan's government would disappear if Khan disappeared first. The cable does not prove a CIA-scripted coup.

The Urdu Wikipedia entry on Imran Khan notes that he repeatedly alleged that he received a "cipher" or diplomatic cable containing proof that an American national, together with Pakistan’s military establishment, conspired to remove him from office.[11] It further states that Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency filed a case against him for sharing information from the alleged cipher and disclosing state secrets, thus violating the Official Secrets Act.[11] The article describes the cipher as part of Imran Khan’s claims, rather than confirming that the U.S. government issued a formal cable directed against him.[11]

Khan remains behind bars while he faces trial for allegedly mishandling a secret document, known as a cypher, which the prosecution claims compromised the integrity of the encrypted communication system used by the state’s security apparatus. The main charge against Khan relates to his handling of a diplomatic cable describing a key meeting in March 2022 between U.S. and Pakistani officials in Washington.

A classified diplomatic document that opponents say triggered the removal and eventual imprisonment of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has resurfaced at the center of renewed geopolitical scrutiny. The secret diplomatic cipher, dated March 7, 2022, is being cited as evidence of alleged American involvement in the political upheaval that eventually led to Khan’s ouster.