|
I guess this means we can look forward to 10 more years of war as long as the American Empire is occupying Afghanistan.
No upgrades for Afghan 'Pentagon' U.S. denies request for larger office by Joshua Partlow - Jul. 2, 2012 12:00 AM Washington Post KABUL - The United States is spending $92 million to build Afghanistan a new "Pentagon," a massive five-story military headquarters with domed roofs and a high-tech basement command center that will link Afghan generals with their troops fighting the Taliban across the country. But when Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak asked for a bigger office in the building -- a change that would cost about $300,000 -- he got a firm "no" in response. These types of changes cost time and money, U.S. military officials said, and in Afghanistan, both are in ever-shorter supply. "We could do them, but we're not going to do them," Col. Andrew Backus, the director of engineering for the NATO command in charge of training and equipping the Afghan security forces, said of the Afghans' proposed revisions. "What we're going to do is finish the project with strict change control and turn it over to the Afghans. And if they want to change it, then they can change it." The military headquarters building is one of the most prominent public symbols of America's ongoing financial commitment to Afghanistan. Even at this late stage of the war, with American troops beginning their withdrawal, the U.S. government is still working its way through a $10 billion menu of construction projects aimed at bolstering the Afghan security forces. Of the 1,150 buildings planned, more than 600 -- or more than half -- have been completed, with a total value of $4 billion. In addition to the Defense Ministry headquarters, the United States is building a $54 million Kabul headquarters for the Interior Ministry, which oversees the Afghan police, as well as a $102 million base for the military's 201st Corps in eastern Afghanistan. But with strict timelines and eroding domestic support for the war, U.S. military officials say there's little room for revising what remains to be done. "We are taking a firm stance with a set of disciplined business rules on change control," Backus said. "That's our approach." That policy has already been tested at a high level with Afghanistan's Pentagon. Rising amid Kabul's dusty streets, the 516,000-square-foot edifice, still cloaked in scaffolds and cranes, dwarfs other buildings in town. U.S. military officials said the office planned for the minister -- which had been agreed to by the Afghans -- is about 1,400 square feet, and the proposed changes would have doubled its size, as well as given the minister direct access to an elevator. |