U.S. abandons consulate site in Afghanistan, citing security risks

Washington Post ^ | May 5, 2012 | By Ernesto Londoño

[Oldeconomybuyer]

After signing a 10-year lease and spending more than $80 million on a site envisioned as the United States’ diplomatic hub in northern Afghanistan, American officials say they have abandoned their plans, deeming the location for the proposed compound too dangerous.

Eager to raise an American flag and open a consulate in a bustling downtown district of the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, officials in 2009 sought waivers to stringent State Department building rules and overlooked significant security problems at the site, documents show. The problems included relying on local building techniques that made the compound vulnerable to a car bombing, according to an assessment by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul that was obtained by The Washington Post.

The plan for the Mazar-e Sharif consulate, as laid out in a previously undisclosed diplomatic memorandum, is a cautionary tale of wishful thinking, poor planning and the type of stark choices the U.S. government will have to make in coming years as it tries to wind down its role in the war.

[skeeter]

Dock the pay of ever State Dept employee starting with Her Thighness to pay for this boondoggle.

[JimSEA]

Why build when we are fixing to get run out??

[Da Coyote]

The State dept has to be the most inept set of “challenged” idiots in our govt.

Come on.

There is NOTHING in any Muslim country worth spending any money on.

Ever.

[ColdOne]

exactly!

[GOPJ]

The problems included relying on local building techniques that made the compound vulnerable to a car bombing...

WTF? What? We were going to use bricks made straw - sold by a person who took bribes and did inferior work? Isn't there a group called, "Army Corps of Engineers" or something like that?

[Sarajevo]

DoS is bound and determined to build their ineffective castles in hostile territory. Talk about stupidity.

[Spok]

IMO, Obama’s October surprise will be total withdrawal from Afghanistan.

[PGR88]

After signing a 10-year lease and spending more than $80 million on a site envisioned as the United States’ diplomatic hub in northern Afghanistan

Only the US Gov't would pay $80 million for any site in Af-Pak. The site is now now selling for 10 goats / $3000 or best offer.

[MasterGunner01]

Kind of reminds me about the U.S. Embassy in Saigon as the Huey lands on the roof to evacuate them from the approaching NVA and Viet Cong troops in 1975. The State Department is a collection of dunces led by the Dunce-in-Chief, Hillary!, Her Imperial Thighness.