Matthew Hoh: Leaving Afghanistan
A war hero and foreign service officer resigned, saying Afghanistan is unwinnable. Should we listen?
Soldiers at the main U.S. base in Bagram, Afghanistan
(EPA/Pool/Corbis/Musadeq Sadeq)
Matthew Hoh, a highly regarded U.S. foreign service officer, who also served as a Marine captain in Iraq, has resigned over what he sees as a hopeless situation in Afghanistan. In his resignation letter, Hoh said he had "lost understanding" of why the U.S. is fighting, and that the presence of foreign soldiers just fuels the insurgency. Should policymakers pay attention to the thoughts of one midlevel official?
The U.S. should follow Hoh's example and leave: Clearly, Matthew Hoh didn’t resign for ideological reasons—he’s just a smart guy who understands the real situation in Afghanistan, says Glenn Greenwald in Salon. As Hoh notes, we soon will have been in Afghanistan as long as the Soviets were. Now that the presence of U.S. troops "exacerbates the very problem we are allegedly attempting to address—terrorism"—by "increasing anti-American anger," it's time to go.
"Former Marine captain resigns in protest"
Mathew Hoh can quit. America can't: "Matthew Hoh is obviously more than entitled to his opinion," says Boston Herald editor Jules Crittenden in his personal blog. But leave the rejoicing over his despair to "lefty bloggers and anti-war politicians." The rest of us can't afford to give in, any more than we could in Iraq. As we learned after leaving Vietnam, "abandoning Afghanistan may cause more problems than it solves."
"Resignation"
We just need a new game plan: "Of course our presence fuels the insurgency," says Matthew Yglesias in Think Progress. Mistrust is a given when a foreign army roams through someone else's country. Simply killing "everyone who wants us to leave" won't work—the key to victory is showing the people of Afghanistan a compelling vision of what their country could look like after American soldiers leave.
"Is the US presence driving the Afghan insurgency?"
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26 Comments
Posted by Peter Sauchinitz, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 8:47 am It's easy to fight unjust and endless wars with the blood of someone else's son or daughter. The American people don't care or have a clue whats going on in Afghanistan.
Posted by Marine who served with the man, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 9:30 am You are missing the point of what was written in his letter. It states that the people we are fighting are accepting the terrorist money not to fight just americans but to fight anyone that is trying to change thier way of life. It would be the same thing if the people of the appalachia decided not to sell out to big buisness railroad,and coal companies and fight thier encroachment on thier land and thier way of life. Basically the people in these valleys will fight whoever comes into thier valley beacuase its an attack on thier culture.
Posted by Mark, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 10:43 am One officer quits it we should follow. How about some statement from the thousands of officers who are joining the military yearly. How about the officers that have served multiple tours already and are still going back?
Posted by Nick, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 12:17 pm Did we ever try to change the world by building it and not by sinking in blood? Did we ever really ask Afghan people if they really desire our democracy established in their land?All US past wars and what we fight now in Afghanistan are even NOT in the interests of Americans, it is in the interests of Wall Street, Pentagon and CIA. First CIA invents and trains AlQaeda to help fighting Soviets in Afghanistan. This time they send us fighting their AlQaeda. It is all about bloody games. What is next??? I do not want to be in.
Posted by Jon, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 12:18 pm Even though this is only ONE person resigning, he makes many very important points. I believe it would behoove our president and lawmakers to pay attention to this other viewpoint.It is a feudal war based on drug money. Like they wanted the Soviets out, they want us out. They are also financially supporting the terrorists, who are now present in many countries.Can we afford the lives and expense to continue this indefinitely?What is our purpose what is the exit strategy?The Karzai government is a joke new elections willnot solve anything
Posted by Nick, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 1:10 pm Note, Matthew Hoh's videos that I saw yesterday's morning have been REMOVED from Google and YouTube. Instead they our Government! spread the bullshit that polls shows we all want increase US presence and more blood in Afghanistan. Do we???
Posted by Tony - formerly Zabul PRT, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 1:26 pm I returned from serving in Zabul province last year where Matthew also served. While I agree with many of his points, one place where we differ is the attitudes of the local afghans. In the course of a year, I conducted more key leader engagements than Mr Hoh could ever had accomplished. A repeating theme from the majority of elders is lack of gov't support and corrupt police. The locals don't care for the TB, but without a means to protect themselves, most are sitting on the fence so to speak to see how this latest drama plays out.
Posted by xavier, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, 2:30 pm We are going on 9 years in Afghanistan. That is enough time to demonstrate failure or success. It is clear we have failed. If we stay for 13 years to beat the Viet Nam record, it will still be failure.If Obama adds more troops, he is claiming title to this debacle from Bush. Afghans have their own priorities and world view that Americans clearly do not understand.It is sad to see Obama sucked into this quagmire. If he does not pull out he deserves what he gets: one term as president and a harsh rebuke from history and Americans.
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