Matthew Hoh Resigns: State Department Official Quits Over Afghan War

WASHINGTON — A former Marine who fought in Iraq, joined the State Department after leaving the military and was a diplomat in a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan has become the first U.S. official to resign in protest of the Afghan war, the Washington Post reported early Tuesday.

Matthew Hoh said he believes the war is simply fueling the insurgency.

"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," Hoh wrote in his resignation letter, dated Sept. 10 but published early Tuesday. "I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end."

Richard Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told the Post he disagreed that the war "wasn't worth the fight," but did agree with much of Hoh's analysis.

READ THE LETTER:

ResignationLetter -

Comments

[Galeso]

11:51 AM on 11/05/2009

The Pashtuns what to secede from Afghanistan like America seceded from England? Outrageous.

[renegade28]

12:24 AM on 11/02/2009

So where did FOX News, Fair and Balanced Webpage go for an article relating to Matthew Hoh? Here is there link, but just a blank page and it can be found in cache. First U.S. Official Resigns Over Afghan War. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/27/official-resigns-protest-afghan-war/

Here is the cached article: http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:dRNQwn5MuqcJ:www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/27/official-resigns-protest-afghan-war/%20%22First%20U.S.%20Official%20Resigns%20Over%20Afghan%20War%22

[robdverity]

09:17 PM on 10/31/2009

Mathew Hoh for president. His resignation grit is more patriotic than his Marine combat tour in Iraq. However, his effort will prove futile long term. Our jingoism is in the hands (money) of the MI oligarchs. Not pols, nor Obama or any governmental hack. They sold that province long ago - in the first purchased preemptive wars (Gulf of Tonkin, followed by WMDs). Obama and his puppeteers are making a great show on the number of troops but the main goal is SUSTAINABILITY (for as long as politically feasible). Journalism will continue the jingo orthodoxy to keep public opinion in check - probably for decades. Cynicism is cheap, but unfortunately perceived reality. Democracies sold to the highest bidder are by definition plutocracies. The MI plutocrats in our case will bleed (literally) Iraq and Af-Pak for all they can. Kudos to Matt for trying though.

[Seafoam]

07:16 PM on 10/28/2009

The Taliban are really bad extremists. They are really scary. See the Charlie Rose interview with the NY Times journalist who was captured by a Taliban group A Muslim version of the KKK. It is good to take them on where they operate before they destabilize Pakistan further, continue to offer sanctuaries for foreign terrorists and get hold of nuclear weapons for themselves and Al Queda.. See the European documentary The Bloody Cartoon for a revelation of the thinking of Islamic extremists....in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, etc. The Taliban is a real cancer that I am hoping the Muslim world itself will get rid of, much like Christians suppressed their violent, Christian extremists.

[Hysterian68]

06:05 PM on 10/28/2009

Hillary you old war monger. Why aren't you right behind Mr. Hoh going out the door?

[ignorantwillyharper]

01:09 PM on 10/28/2009

Al Qaeda is now in Pakistan and the Tali ban is in Afghanistan. The Tali ban will not follow us home, nor did the North Vietnamese's.

These people do not want any type of democracy and they have been fighting among themselves for the past four thousand years, they just want us out of their country and I would too.

This war and the Iraq war was brought about by the Bush/Cheney Administration for two things, oil and big corporate money making accessibility. Now it's out of hand and we don't know how to get out of the mess the last administration got us into. You can bet Gen. McChristal is not going to get a scratch in this war, but how many more of our sons and daughters are going to die for naught. The Generals and Pentagon love wars, this brings in billions of dollars for their budget and we the taxpayer, are the one's footing the bill. This country will go broke, just as Russia did...it sure wasn't Reagan that brought down Russia, it was their war in Afghanistan.

Pragmatism and logic...is to get out now!

[Hysterian68]

06:10 PM on 10/28/2009

Let's face it. The Taliban are about the only people in Afghanistan who know what they're doing, and they do it very well too.

[AERO]

12:02 PM on 10/28/2009

I believe politics are trumping reason in the issue of the Afghan war. As President Obama is attempting to make progress in so many issues such as the economy and health reform, he can't afford to open up another front against him in the area of security. The Afghan war is already there. It is established. To make a major shift either way, either in escalating or ending the war will enrage groups of voters on either side of the issue. The safest path politically is to maintain the status quo until after the 2012 election, at which time if he's re-elected, we will see what he truly intends to do with the situation. At any rate, whatever he does will probably be better than the nothing that the previous administration was doing.

[ignorantwillyharper]

12:43 PM on 10/28/2009

And between now and 2012 how many lives are willing to sacrfice...for what?

[Hysterian68]

06:06 PM on 10/28/2009

maintaining the status quo? lol will lead to his impeachment.

[Manchesterian]

11:53 AM on 10/28/2009

WOW!! If the POTUS read this letter, no doubt it has impacted his deliberations on the US presence and continued presence in Afghanistan.

Matthew Hoh is a hero to the men and women on the battle field and history books should note his valor in defense of his comrades and his country in his having the courage to pen this letter.

[Rapier]

12:05 AM on 10/28/2009

The fact is to be in a war we should at least have an end game and we don't. Hoh is quite right and the specious reasons used to justify escalation are easily debunked. Great article doing just that in the Commentary for Oct 21, 2009 at http://ofthisandthat.org/Commentary.html

[thoughtmuse]

11:51 PM on 10/27/2009

Thank you Mr. Hoh for showing your moral integrity and straight-sightednes. I hope the news reaches you of all the Americans who support your effort to send such a strong personal message. I truly hope your message will give courage and a wake up for others to follow.

[lambdin1]

11:36 PM on 10/27/2009

With out reading the diatribe, why not!! We need more people to stand for what they themselves believe in! Who reallly cares wether it is right or wrong. Afterall it is a matter of one's own preception.

[ssg13565]

09:28 PM on 10/28/2009

It matters a lot if he is right or wrong. If he is right, then we all ought to push for a strategy that takes advantages of his insights. If he is wrong we should avoid his advice like the plague.

I tend to find his thinking to be plausible. News that I have seen today, indicates to me that Obama may be paying attention.

There are two news stories that I heard today that cloud the issue somewhat for me.

One was a story about a training base that used to be under constant attack that is no longer under a steady barrage anymore. The difference the story claims is that there is a medical clinic at the base that is treating the local population with services that they never had access to before. If this story is true, then it might not be completely true that we need to abandon the hinterlands where we are not wanted. There may be ciscumstances where we could be accepted by the local population.

The other story is the rising level of attacks within the populated areas. According to Matthew Hoh, I thought these were the parts of the country where the populace was in favor of our actions. These are the very places that should be seeing diminished attacks compared to the hinterlands where the attacks should be rising.

[AwakeNow]

11:22 PM on 10/27/2009

I applaud this man for speaking truth to power. Many of his statements ring loud and clear. The fight against terrorism is not centralized in Afghanistan. The cost of life not only for soldiers and their loved ones is beyond accountable. Think of all who make it home only to find out that daily life for them is forever changed in many different ways. The cost in national treasure is not justifiable. This is the longest war the U.S. has ever fought. We are no closer to an end than we were almost 9 years ago. The corruption and fraud are unmanagable. This soldier was in the fight. He had skin in the game (so to speak); this is no game. There surely is someway better for this terror situation to be worked on. I hope Mr. Hoh will continue to work for a better tomorrow for our country. Thank you Matthew Hoh.

[nexxtep54]

09:42 PM on 10/27/2009

Yo Ho Go Yo

[Chip W]

01:35 AM on 10/28/2009

Very funny. Ho Ho Ho.

[pilgrimhll]

09:05 PM on 10/27/2009

I don't understand this...The Taliban can control the country for eleven years and we can't. I think Mr. Hoh resignation is admirable but he fails to answer this question. Or is he saying that we won't employ the same brutal methods that they used to pacify the country. Just stop saying the country can't be united. the Taliban did it effectively for eleven years whether we agree with their methods or not.

[nananance]

10:35 PM on 10/27/2009

I don't know how you can compare the Taliban running their own country, as brutal and repressive as they are, to an occupying force from the United States trying to take and retain control.
Afghanistan has been invaded by everyone from Alexander the Great to the Mongols to the British. We are seen simply as the latest in a long line of foreigners who would occupy the nation for our own ends.
After the USSR invaded in 1979, both they and the US used Afghanistan to fight out the Cold War. After the USSR withdrew in 1989, we lost interest in doing anything to help the Afghan people which left the vacuum the Taliban eventually filled. Bin Laden was an unintended consequence of our backing the mujahideen and not until Sept. 11 did we start paying real attention to the region again
This has been the deadliest month ever for our forces in Afghanistan, nearly a year after millions of us voted for a president whom we thought was going to bring our troops home

[waitek1]

02:54 PM on 10/28/2009

President Obama never said he was bringing the troops home from Afghanistan. In fact he stated the reverse. I am constantly amazed by the supporters of this President who have projected thier agendas on a man who was clear on his agenda during the campaign. Although he is waffling AGAIN on a campaign position you should not be surprised.

Barack Obama

Refocusing on the Central Front Time Magazine 07/17/08 (in part)

...Instead of being distracted from the most pressing threats that we face, I will harness all elements of American power to overcome them. My first order as Commander in Chief will be to end the war in Iraq and refocus our efforts on Afghanistan and our broader security interests. Let me be clear--my plan would not abandon Iraq. It is in our strategic interest to maintain a residual force that will go after al-Qaeda, train Iraqi security forces and protect U.S. interests. But we must recognize that the central front in the war on terror is not in Iraq, and it never was. The central front is in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is unacceptable that almost seven years after 9/11, those responsible for the attacks remain at large. If another attack on our homeland occurs, it will likely come from this same region where 9/11 was planned. Yet today we have five times more troops in Iraq than Afghanistan...

[nopilikia]

08:41 PM on 10/27/2009

There is no win in a Afghan war. History tells us this going all the way back to Alexander the Great. There is only stay till the country gets tired of losing its soldiers and treasure. Then leave. While planning the next move in the Afghan War I hope our Commander in Chief picks up a Afghan history book. Our troops have served above and beyond. They have been gone far to long. It's time to bring them home.