http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/01/its-true-hillary-clinton-blew-80-million-on-mazar-e-sharif-consulate-that-will-never-openRand Paul in his questioning of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused the State Department of blowing $80 million on a consulate in northern Afghanistan that will never open. This was right before he told Hillary he would have fired her for her ineptness.
$80 million down the drain.
Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and his wife Ching, along with a delegation of U.S. Embassy staff took a trip to Mazar-e-Sharif and met with Afghan officials. While there they visited the future site of a new U.S. consulate – 30 Mar 2011.
(Photo from US Embassy Kabul/Flickr)
It’s true. The State Department blew $80 million on a consulate in Mazar-e Sharif that will never open.
The Washington Post reported:
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 decision to give up on the site is the clearest sign to date that, as the U.S.-led military coalition starts to draw down troops amid mounting security concerns, American diplomats are being forced to reassess how to safely keep a viable presence in Afghanistan. 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.
During her testimony today Hillary Clinton asked for more funding for the State Department.
