Daijiworld Media Network – Washington
Washington, Nov 21: In Washington’s upscale embassy district of Kalorama, the sudden trimming of years-old overgrowth outside a long-deserted compound — and the raising of the Syrian flag — has reignited attention on several diplomatic buildings left abandoned due to shifting global politics.
The symbolic reopening of Syria’s embassy comes 11 years after its closure in 2014, when the US shut it down amid the civil war. The Trump administration announced on November 10 that the mission could officially reopen following the White House visit of Syria’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa, the once-blacklisted jihadist who led Assad’s ouster in late 2024.
However, the building is in severe disrepair and may take years to restore, former Syrian diplomat Bassam Barabandi told AFP. He recalled that even before he left in 2013, parts of the building had already been condemned.
“Just imagine its condition now,” he remarked.
Afghan mission stands frozen in time
A few blocks away, the abandoned Afghan Embassy remains frozen in March 2022 — the day then-deputy ambassador Abdul Hadi Nejrabi handed the keys to the US government. The Taliban takeover seven months earlier had left the diplomats representing a government that no longer existed. Their accounts were frozen, salaries halted, and eventually, the State Department asked them to officially shut the embassy.
“We checked every room, locked the door, and I gave the key,” Hadi Nejrabi said, recalling the quiet end of Afghanistan’s diplomatic presence.
Its mailbox today is stuffed with yellowing newspapers, a reminder of how abruptly the mission ceased to exist.
Russian property battle continues
Not far away, weeds overrun the parking lot of a former Russian trade mission, closed by the US in retaliation for Moscow’s alleged interference in the 2016 election. The State Department has barred Russian diplomats from accessing six such buildings, including consulates in San Francisco and Seattle and a Maryland compound.
The Russian Embassy blasted the closures as illegal under the Vienna Convention and accused the US of actions that “border on theft.”
A district of diplomatic ghosts
Kalorama — home to high-profile residents including Barack and Michelle Obama — is dotted with shuttered embassies that reflect global tensions. The empty Iranian Embassy, closed since the 1980 Islamic Revolution, still stands with its striking blue dome, once a venue for lavish receptions but now a relic of frozen ties.
Under the Vienna Convention, the US State Department is responsible for protecting foreign missions when relations break down. It currently maintains 29 such properties belonging to Afghanistan, Venezuela, Iran, China and Russia — symbols of geopolitical upheaval that left once-bustling embassies locked, overgrown, and gathering dust.
For many in Washington’s quietest diplomatic neighbourhood, these abandoned buildings remain reminders of sudden political shifts that reshaped nations and emptied hallways once filled with international dialogue.