[Peace-discuss] Crusader castles

[C. G. Estabrook]

["This is a replay of Baghdad ... This (Islamabad embassy) is ... for the micro 
and macro management of Pakistan, and using Pakistan for pushing the American 
agenda in Central Asia."  Remarkable that US politicians & media don't notice 
this central point...  --CGE]

	Iraq redux? Obama seeks funds for Pakistan super-embassy
	By Saeed Shah and Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers

ISLAMABAD — The U.S. is embarking on a $1 billion crash program to expand its 
diplomatic presence in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, another sign that 
the Obama administration is making a costly, long-term commitment to war-torn 
South Asia, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The White House has asked Congress for — and seems likely to receive — $736 
million to build a new U.S. embassy in Islamabad, along with permanent housing 
for U.S. government civilians and new office space in the Pakistani capital.

The scale of the projects rivals the giant U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which was 
completed last year after construction delays at a cost of $740 million.

Senior State Department officials said the expanded diplomatic presence is 
needed to replace overcrowded, dilapidated and unsafe facilities and to support 
a "surge" of civilian officials into Afghanistan and Pakistan ordered by 
President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Other major projects are planned for Kabul, Afghanistan; and for the Pakistani 
cities of Lahore and Peshawar. In Peshawar, the U.S. government is negotiating 
the purchase of a five-star hotel that would house a new U.S. consulate.

Funds for the projects are included in a 2009 supplemental spending bill that 
the House of Representatives and the Senate have passed in slightly different forms.

Obama has repeatedly stated that stabilizing Pakistan and Afghanistan, the 
countries from which al Qaida and the Taliban operate, is vital to U.S. national 
security. He's ordered thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan and is 
proposing substantially increased aid to both countries.

In Pakistan, however, large parts of the population are hostile to the U.S. 
presence in the region — despite receiving billions of dollars in aid from 
Washington since 2001 — and anti-American groups and politicians are likely to 
seize on the expanded diplomatic presence in Islamabad as evidence of American 
"imperial designs."

"This is a replay of Baghdad," said Khurshid Ahmad, a member of Pakistan's upper 
house of parliament for Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the country's two main religious 
political parties. "This (Islamabad embassy) is more (space) than they should 
need. It's for the micro and macro management of Pakistan, and using Pakistan 
for pushing the American agenda in Central Asia."

In Baghdad and other dangerous locales, U.S. diplomats have sometimes found 
themselves cut off from the population in heavily fortified compounds surrounded 
by blast walls, concertina wire and armed guards.

"If you're going to have people live in a car bomb-prone place, your are driven 
to not have a light footprint," said Ronald Neumann, a former U.S. ambassador to 
Afghanistan and the president of the American Academy of Diplomacy. Neumann 
called the planned expansions "generally pretty justified."

In Islamabad, according to State Department budget documents, the plan calls for 
the rapid construction of a $111 million new office annex to accommodate 330 
workers; $197 million to build 156 permanent and 80 temporary housing units; and 
a $405 million replacement of the main embassy building. The existing embassy, 
in the capital's leafy diplomatic enclave, was badly damaged in a 1979 assault 
by Pakistani students.

The U.S. government also plans to revamp its consular buildings in the eastern 
city of Lahore and in Peshawar, the regional capital of the militancy plagued 
North West Frontier Province. The consulate in the southern megacity of Karachi 
has just been relocated into a new purpose-built accommodation.

A senior State Department official confirmed that the U.S. plan for the 
consulate in Peshawar involves the purchase of the luxury Pearl Continental 
hotel. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't 
authorized to speak publicly.

The Pearl Contintental is the city's only five-star hotel, set in its own 
expansive grounds, with a swimming pool. It's owned by Pakistani tycoon 
Sadruddin Hashwani.

Peshawar is an important station for gathering intelligence on the tribal area 
that surrounds the city on three sides and is a base for al Qaida and the 
Taliban. The area also will be a focus for expanded U.S. aid programs, and the 
American mission in Peshawar has already expanded from three U.S. diplomats to 
several dozen.

In all, the administration requested $806 million for diplomatic construction 
and security in Pakistan.

"For the strong commitment the U.S. is making in the country of Pakistan, we 
need the necessary platform to fulfill our diplomatic mission," said Jonathan 
Blyth of the State Department's Overseas Buildings Operations bureau. "The 
embassy is in need of upgrading and expansion to meet our future mission 
requirements."

A senior Pakistani official said the expansion has been under discussion for 
three years. "Pakistanis understand the need for having diplomatic missions 
expanding and the Americans always have had an enclave in Islamabad," said the 
official, who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the 
matter publicly. "Will some people exploit it? They will."

In Kabul, the U.S. government is negotiating an $87 million purchase of a 30- to 
40-acre parcel of land to expand the embassy. The Senate version of the 
appropriations bill omits all but $10 million of those funds.

(Shah is a McClatchy special correspondent. Jonathan S. Landay contributed to 
this article.)