Nov. 23, 2001, 9:49PM

U.S. Embassy remains silent

'We will know we are safe' when it reopens, Afghan says

BY JOSHUA TRUJILLO Copyright 2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Nawabali smiled when he slid open the drawer of his charred desk in the long-abandoned U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Inside he found a small American flag, melted at the edges in a fire set during protests in September against the United States.

Nawabali, 60, who like many Afghans goes by one name, has worked as an administrative assistant on the grounds of the embassy for 22 years. He recently returned to the building after it was vacated by Taliban officials and Arab fighters loyal to suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

The security guards who followed Nawabali through the scene of shattered windows and burned offices warned against touching things that might be booby trapped.

Closed by U.S. diplomats in 1989, the 34-year-old embassy fell into the hands of the Taliban, which occupied offices in the main compound for at least the past two years, according to Taliban documents found there. Arab fighters loyal to bin Laden and his al-Qaida network were the last ones in, hiding from the U.S. airstrikes that eventually pushed them out of the city.

In the wake of the retreating Taliban, diplomatic missions and envoys have sprung up in Kabul, with Russia, India, Britain, France, Germany and Iran operating offices here. Eighty-five British marines are said to be in the city to help reopen embassies. At the former British embassy, white Land Cruisers filled with young, clean-shaven men arrive in regular convoys.

But the U.S. compound remains silent, except for the sound of rope slapping against a bare flagpole. Scorched and yellowing documents, broken glass, chunks of metal and literature left by the Arab fighters litter the property shielded by high walls and serpentine wire. A nearby memorial to Sheldon T. Mills, ambassador here from 1956 to 1959, has been desecrated. Chunks of the shattered stone monument litter the dead grass.

In the debris are hundreds of cards in Arabic, recounting allegations of American crimes against Muslims, along with a notebook filled with English phrases copied dozens of times, as if the author were practicing English.

Blowing across a courtyard was a letter from Nate Frazier of Omaha, Neb., dated Nov. 8, 1990, who wanted information for a ninth-grade history class project.

"I feel that Afghanistan is a country with great potential," he wrote. "And in years to come I think it will have a big impact on what goes on in other parts of the world, including the U.S."

Hashmatullah Moslih of the Northern Alliance foreign ministry said the United States should re-establish a diplomatic presence here to avoid being surprised again.

"Afghanistan has always been in the blind spot of the U.S. political machine. We have survived all these years without them, but they need to be here now," Moslih said.

There is no sign that a diplomatic mission will soon return. The property's caretakers said they have not been contacted about reopening it, though some will celebrate when that day comes.

"Not only me, but the people on the street say we will know we are safe when the embassy opens again," Nawabali said while tending new plants in the compound's greenhouse. "We want the Americans back."

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2001