WASHINGTON: In Washington’s embassy district, years’ worth of wildly overgrown vegetation outside an empty building was finally pruned away in September as the flag of Syria was raised. The symbolic reopening of the compound after 11 years of closure serves as a reminder that a number of buildings in the area of Washington called Kalorama are in a state of sad abandon, thanks to the violent jolts of world diplomacy. Since the embassy of Afghanistan closed a few months after the Taliban returned to power in 2021, its mailbox outside has been filled with yellowing newspapers.