Building A High-Tech ‘Crusader Castle’ In Pakistan

By Nathan Hodge
February 18, 2010 | 9:34 am
Courtesy Of Wired Blog Network

In Pakistan, the United States is involved in an escalating drone war; its spies are going after Taliban leadership (two more militant “shadow governors” were nabbed yesterday); and U.S. ground troops are being killed in action. But as Noah has pointed out before, we’re hesitant to call this a real war. Perhaps what this conflict needs is an $800 million, Green Zone-style embassy to match.

Late last month, the State Department opened bidding for a giant new embassy office in Islamabad. According to the solicitation, the project will involve demolition of older buildings in the existing U.S. embassy compound (pictured here) and construction of a new embassy office building, an office annex, Marine security guard quarters, general services offices and warehouse, plus a power plant and other utilities. The new buildings will have a total area of 79,000 square meters, and will cost an estimated $530 - $630 million to build.

That’s not all. The State Department also wants to buy high-security buildings to house its staff in Islamabad. That housing complex, on newly acquired property in Islamabad, will cover 48,600 square meters. The project cost: $140 - $200 million.

In Baghdad, snarky Americans and Iraqis took to calling the hulking American embassy complex there the “Crusader Castle.” Any guesses what the one in Islamabad might be named?

Many of the details of the Islamabad embassy project, are shrouded in secrecy, of course. Security clearances are required for bidders, and the department does not expect to find more than five qualified firms.

Of course, you can expect that these buildings will be the state-of-the art in terms of protection. After the 1983 suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, the State Department introduced stringent new building standards for U.S. embassies. But the new new U.S. Embassy Baghdad set the bar higher in terms of fortresslike design and cost. While few details are public, the place includes deep security perimeters and buildings hardened to withstand indirect fire.

Perhaps it’s not a bad idea to build a more robustly designed embassy complex in Pakistan. As Time correspondent Tim McGirk reports from Islamabad, anti-American sentiment has been on the rise in Pakistan, often stoked by wild conspiracy theories about the U.S. presence there. And that spills over into diplomacy. As McGirk notes, “U.S. diplomats are harassed in real life by Pakistani authorities. Their vehicles are seized and their visas tangled in bureaucratic red tape for months, crippling aid projects and counterinsurgency efforts. Sometimes photos of their residences are published in newspapers and labeled as CIA dens.”

Maybe it’s because I’m currently reading Guests of the Ayatollah, Mark Bowden’s account of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy Tehran in 1979 and the subsequent hostage crisis. But reading McGirk’s account, and it’s hard not to think of Iran in 1979.

Update: Or Islamabad in 1979. A reader astutely points out that Pakistani students, enraged by a radio report claiming the United States had bombed Mecca, torched the U.S. embassy there. An account of those events can be found in Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars.

ALSO:

• 3 G.I.s Killed in Pakistan. Now Can We Start Treating This Like a Real War?
  
• U.S. Military Joins CIA’s Drone War in Pakistan
• G.I.s Slain in Pakistan: Psyop Sergeant, Two Nation-Builders …
• Obama: Yup, We’re at War in Pakistan
• Report: U.S. Drone Goes Down Over Pakistan. Again.
• Are Pakistan’s Top Spooks Finally Playing Ball?

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