US building $92M military HQ for Afghanistan, nixes larger office for defense minister

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 were 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 were 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 Americas 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 600or more than halfhave 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 militarys 201st Corps in eastern Afghanistan.

But with strict timelines and eroding domestic support for the war, U.S. military officials say theres 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. Thats our approach.

That policy has already been tested at a high level with Afghanistans Pentagon. Rising amid Kabuls dusty streets, the 516,000-square-foot edifice, still cloaked in scaffolds and cranes, dwarfs other buildings in town.

Once its finished, it will be a permanent and a very significant illustration of the U.S. support for Afghanistan, Wardak, the defense minister, said in an interview. And we needed it.

But Wardak said he asked for two changes to the plan, one involving a conference room and the other his office. The current configuration, with his staff situated in an adjacent room, would require dignitaries to wade through a crowd of people to get to him, he said. I have 100 or something staff. They wanted all of them to be crowded near my office. I didnt want them close, he said. That was one objection.

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US building $92M military HQ for Afghanistan, nixes larger office for defense minister