A Second Rebuilding Project For Afghanistan: Mending Its Embassy by Sanjay Talwani In a stately three-story brick building in Washingtonís Kalorama neighborhood, workers are still banging nails and finishing floors in the Embassy of Afghanistan after years of disuse. The roomsóthose that are habitableóare still stark and lightly decorated. Wiring and fixtures are not complete. In one area, boxes left over from a previous regime are stuffed in an alcove. A conference room in the making has walls of exposed brick and a shiny conference table awaiting the repair of the space around it. Even in the personal office of Ambassador Ishaq Shahryar, the furnishings are, for now, basic: a sofa and easy chair, computer equipment on a desk plugged into a power strip on the floor, and a portrait of the President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, one of the few decorations on the walls. For Shahryar and his fledgling diplomatic staff, the embassy has come a long way in less than a year since the new government reclaimed a building that was essentially abandoned and, somewhat like the nation itse lf, left to deteriorate. ìIt was just totally destroyed,î Shahryar said of the building in a recent interview in his office, where afternoon sun highlights the new paint job. ìWeíve been aggressively fixing it, but thereís still a long way to go.î The ambassador lived in local hotels and apartments for seven months before achieving an early goal of moving into the buildingís residential quarters just before Thanksgiving. ìAt least we made it manageable to move into and hold some functions,î he said. ìBut itís still not complete.î Shahryar, who made his fortune making solar power equipment, is the first ambassador from Afghanistan to be recognized by the United States since the Soviet invasion in the late 1970s. A longtime Californian, he gave up his U.S. citizenship to take the job. He is focused on promoting business in the nation of his birth, as well as the development of roads and resources to make Afghanistan a model for the Islamic world and developing nations. Heís already assembled a business task force, which he calls his pride and joy and the Marshall Plan for his nation. But first, he and his skeleton crew have had to address a property whose disrepair was an unfortunate analog of the destroyed infrastructure of Afghanistan after two decades of violence and instability. The Afghan ambassador in 1943 first purchased the buildingólocated among other embassies in an elegant, tree-lined neighborhoodófor $50,000. ìAnd he was bawled out by the government that he spent $50,000 for a building in Washington,î Shahryar noted. Today, that $50,000 probably doesnít even cover the cost of the new air-conditioning system. After the Soviet invasion, a series of representatives occupied the structure. After the communists were driven out and the nation descended into factionalism, representatives of whomever the United Nations recognized at a given time took over. Then the Taliban too had some emissaries until they were kicked out of Washington several years ago. The Taliban apparently didnít bother cleaning up the place before leaving, and when Shahryar and his staff took over, they found a historic structure filled with old papers, piles of dust and dirt, and horrible smells. Pipes were broken, staircases destroyed, roofs leaking. The State Department pitched in on some major work on areas such as the foundation, walls, stairs and plumbing, but left plenty of details and heavy lifting for the new mission. ìIf you came about two or three weeks ago, it was in horrible shape,î Shahryar said in early December. ìIt smelled terrible.î Most new ambassadors in Washington not only have a working building, they also come from nations with established foreign policy bureaucracies. And the countries they represent generally have fundamentals such as a working economy and tax base somewhat in place. Afghanistan has none of that. Most of the governmentís money comes from foreign aid. Shahryar has cobbled together a staff of about a dozen people, compared with the hundreds who work at many other embassies. Shahryar, 66, was part of the so-called Rome Group, which advised exiled Afghan King Zahir Shah, and he was a delegate to the congress in Bonn in December 2001 that helped plan a post-Taliban government. But he points mainly to his success as an international businessman as the kind of background that can serve the Afghan people well. ìI was a CEO for 30 years, and a CEO faces tremendous challenges. And thatís one thing we learnóto develop thick skin and welcome challenges and face them and fight them and conquer them,î he said, adding that he built a multimillion-dollar company from a $30,000 investment. His productsósolar power equipment for homes and businessesóare found all over the world. ìSo when I was offered this job, I thought, ëWell, there you go, I can use my business skill,í and Iím hoping to rebuild a nation,î he said. ì[Rebuilding the embassy] was a little bit minor compared with what we face in Afghanistan.î Given his native countryís fractious politics and violent past, Shahryar figures his status as an outsider, unstained by association with any one movement, can help him move his nation forward. And nowadays, he said, diplomacy and business are necessarily intertwined, especially in a nation desperate for foreign investment. ìDiplomacy has become commercial diplomacy,î Shahryar said. ìWhen you talk of diplomacy or politics, I think sincerity, honesty, transparency is a great deal appreciatedÖ. In any business negotiation, there has to be a win-win situation. Otherwise the arrangement will break down.î He touted Afghanistanís emergence from the rubble of war and Taliban rule as a great ground-floor opportunity for business ventures of nearly any stripe. In particular, he looks forward to the development of Afghanistanís natural resources: oil, gas, copper, iron and minerals, not to mention its traditional base of agriculture and textiles that go back centuries to the countryís position as one of the worldís great crossroads. In the meantime, Afghanistan must suffice with foreign aid and assistance in security, although Shahryar insists the nation is safer and more secure than it has been since before the Soviets came. A curfew in Kabul, he noted, has been lifted for the first time in 23 years. The current $4.5 billion in aid he cited is putting people back to work, although he figures a sum of about $20 billion is needed to kick-start the economy. The nation has some projects in the works, such as a 600-mile road connecting Kabul, Kandahar and Herat, which Shahryar predicts will be an economic incubator. When security issues are further resolved, the ambassador predicts a rush of economic activity, and he advises investors to get in while the opportunities are fresh. Already, he said, farmers are planting crops and children are attending schoolsóbasics in most nations but a blessing in Afghanistan. There are even Japanese and Italian restaurants opening up. As for the security back in the comfort of Washington, Shahryar appears unconcerned about his own safety, insisting that as a businessman and an outsider to the nationís internal strife, he does not feel especially targeted. Indeed, although the building has the basic security of any embassy, it has a low-key atmosphere and the security features are subtle. ìIn terms of Afghan politics, fortunately, I donít belong to any group. My hands have never been dirty with any of this. Iíve not been involved in any of the wars or fighting or groups,î he said. ìIíve totally kept myself above all that stuff. And all factions and all groups understand that, that they have someone in Washington whoís unbiased, who has only the interest of the Afghan people in mind and not any one group. So on that basis, I concern myself very little with the risk factor.î Meanwhile, the basics of wiring and decoration remain alongside the embassy functions of commercial and cultural missions, granting visas and reaching out to the 250,000 or so Afghan Americans. Although Shahryar only took residence in November, the embassy has been operating since July and had one recent function with 600 guests. President George W. Bush visited the embassy on Sept.12 of this year, and a photo of the president and the ambassador is one of the few on Shahryarís desk. Shahryar seems delighted in his new position and unfazed by the challenges involved, somewhat surprised that terrorism and war propelled him into a position to help his homeland. And for all of Afghanistanís problems, at least the n ation now has a representative recognized by Washington. ì[As] the alternative to last year, this is heaven,î Shahryar said of his surroundings. ìI hope that the next ambassador who comes in will find this place elegant, established, and just move in instead of staying in a hotel for seven months.î Sanjay Talwani is a freelance writer in Arlington, Va.