"US abandons site planned for consulate in Afghanistan; Security flaws scuttle compound after $80m spent" by Ernesto Londono | Washington Post, May 13, 2012
WASHINGTON - 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.
But we've won, we're winning, we're leaving, we (fill in next statement of propaganda).
In 2009, eager to raise an American flag and open a consulate in a bustling downtown district of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, officials sought waivers to stringent State Department building rules and overlooked significant security problems at the site, documents show.
I have to do that at my job and as I do I looked skyward and wonder how much revulsion those in the rest of the world must feel seeing that 21st-century swastika running up the poll.
The problems included relying on local building techniques that made the compound vulnerable to a car bombing, according to an assessment by the US Embassy in Kabul that was obtained by the Washington Post.
We aren't leaving, we aren't leaving, been doing this six years, wanted troops back home since day one, and I'm tired of typing it.
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 US government will have to make in coming years as it tries to wind down its role in the war....
Looks like a Wikileak without the mention (false front for the Israeli spy operation document dump already tarnished), and IN NO WAY, SHAPE, or FORM can VICTORY be claimed, Americans -- unless the damn government just declares victory so we can come home.
An embassy spokesman declined to respond to questions about the assessment of the Mazar-e-Sharif compound, saying that as a policy matter officials do not discuss leaked documents.
Had the Mazar-e-Sharif consulate opened this year as planned, it would have been the second of four the US government intends to set up. The United States has a consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat and is assessing options for the three other cities where it intends to keep a permanent diplomatic presence....
Which really means permanent military presence, be it official troops or private mercenaries providing security.
--more--"
Also see: Iraqi Cops Tougher Than U.S. Trainers
Had to roll back the empire there, too.
