U.S. official resigns over war in Afghanistan

[FayeforCure]

The Afghanistan war can break the U.S. economy. We don't have
the resources to fight in Afghanistan for years--decades.

The article, below, is excellent. You can read the letter at this
link:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/41154.html


U.S. official resigns over war in Afghanistan
Foreign Service officer: GIs dying for what is essentially a foreign civil war



Gerald Martineau / The Washington Post
"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," Matthew Hoh wrote in a resignation letter.


By Karen DeYoung

updated 7:49 a.m. CT, Tues., Oct . 27, 2009
When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.

A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.

But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.

"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," he wrote Sept. 10 in a four-page letter to the department's head of personnel. "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."

The reaction to Hoh's letter was immediate. Senior U.S. officials, concerned that they would lose an outstanding officer and perhaps gain a prominent critic, appealed to him to stay.

U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry brought him to Kabul and offered him a job on his senior embassy staff. Hoh declined. From there, he was flown home for a face-to-face meeting with Richard C. Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

'Wasn't worth the fight'
"We took his letter very seriously, because he was a good officer," Holbrooke said in an interview. "We all thought that given how serious his letter was, how much commitment there was, and his prior track record, we should pay close attention to him."

While he did not share Hoh's view that the war "wasn't worth the fight," Holbrooke said, "I agreed with much of his analysis." He asked Hoh to join his team in Washington, saying that "if he really wanted to affect policy and help reduce the cost of the war on lives and treasure," why not be "inside the building, rather than outside, where you can get a lot of attention but you won't have the same political impact?"

Hoh accepted the argument and the job, but changed his mind a week later. "I recognize the career implications, but it wasn't the right thing to do," he said in an interview Friday, two days after his resignation became final.


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Vote: Is our presence fueling the insurgency?
"I'm not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love," Hoh said. Although he said his time in Zabul was the "second-best job I've ever had," his dominant experience is from the Marines, where many of his closest friends still serve.

"There are plenty of dudes who need to be killed," he said of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "I was never more happy than when our Iraq team whacked a bunch of guys."

But many Afghans, he wrote in his resignation letter, are fighting the United States largely because its troops are there â€" a growing military presence in villages and valleys where outsiders, including other Afghans, are not welcome and where the corrupt, U.S.-backed national government is rejected. While the Taliban is a malign presence, and Pakistan-based al-Qaeda needs to be confronted, he said, the United States is asking its troops to die in Afghanistan for what is essentially a far-off civil war.

As the White House deliberates over whether to deploy more troops, Hoh said he decided to speak out publicly because "I want people in Iowa, people in Arkansas, people in Arizona, to call their congressman and say, 'Listen, I don't think this is right.'"

"I realize what I'm getting into . . . what people are going to say about me," he said. "I never thought I would be doing this."

'Uncommon bravery'
Hoh's journey â€" from Marine, reconstruction expert and diplomat to war protester â€" was not an easy one. Over the weeks he spent thinking about and drafting his resignation letter, he said, "I felt physically nauseous at times."

His first ambition in life was to become a firefighter, like his father. Instead, after graduation from Tufts University and a desk job at a publishing firm, he joined the Marines in 1998. After five years in Japan and at the Pentagon â€" and at a point early in the Iraq war when it appeared to many in the military that the conflict was all but over â€" he left the Marines to join the private sector, only to be recruited as a Defense Department civilian in Iraq. A trained combat engineer, he was sent to manage reconstruction efforts in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit.

[civil42806]

Letter is good,   But Lew Rockwell?  You do know who that nut case is right?  Its almost as bad as Lyndon Larouche, but not quite.

[reednavy]

This basically is a civil war with our feet in it.

[Cricket]

Does anyone know how many Afghans or Talabanis attacked us on 9/11?

[Dog Walker]

Cricket, easy answer is zero, but like a lot of easy answers it depends.  First, there are very few people who live in the area who self-identify as Afghans; mostly city folk and educated.  Most identify by tribe or language group; Pashtuns, Kurds,etc.  Second, the Taliban, mostly Pashtun, Islamic fundamentalists backed by Pakistan, took over the region and provided a safe haven, support, and funding to Osama ben Laden who DID plan the attack on the US.  The Taliban then refused to arrest him and turn him over.

I think we were right to then run the Taliban out of power and destroy this nest of terrorists.  Whether we need to still be there is another question.  IMO there's not nation there for "nation building" to work, but all of the tribes have traditionally united against foreign invaders.  If we leave, they'll go back to fighting one another as they have for a thousand years.  We just have to keep terrorists from making a safe base there again.

Don't forget.  We toppled the Taliban with just a few special forces, an alliance with one of the tribes and some air power.  It didn't take a whole army to deny our enemies a safe haven.  Maybe we should forget nation building and trying to change a culture and limit our goals to the first one.

[Dog Walker]

After posting the above, I found this in the NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/opinion/28friedman.html?em

[Cricket]

Thanks, Dog Walker. That Friedman article is right on target IMO. And if I may digress slightly from the topic, I would add one observation. The US will never be able to broker a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Why? Because the US has a dog in the fight. It's like asking Steinbrenner to stand in as home plate umpire tonight.

[Sportmotor]

I agree, Afganaland has a civial war going, and we dont need to be involved in it.
I understand why we are there now tho. Afgany is where alot of the insurgancy trains, which is essicantally why we are there.

[Dog Walker]

All of the insurgency training has shifted to the "tribal areas" of Pakistan.  Tribal areas means it's not really Pakistan except on the map.  They can only come in under the army. 

These same areas were used by Pakistan and the CIA to train and arm insurgents to go fight the Soviet Union forces when THEY tried to nation build in Afghanistan.  Bet you a large amount of money that there are still countries doing what we did there to keep us tied up and wasting our blood and treasure.  It worked against the Soviets, why not us.  Hell, some of them doing the funding are probably some of the same people who were doing it with us against the Soviets, like the wealth Saudi businessmen and the Iranians.

[Sportmotor]

It isnt working as well against us becuase they dont have Stinger missles to bring down choppers and other airsupport.

That played a desisive role in helping drive the USSR out of Afgana.


but yes they have shifted to areas in our "allies" country where we cant go (openly atleast)
I think at this point Afgany is a lost cause UNLESS someone does something to Iran.
If the Isralies finally go in at them I think we will stay in Afganistan, or if we finally have to.



I truely belive(along with some Army intel officers who remain nameless) that is why we are still there.

[Sportmotor]

BTW

I purpose we change that country's damn name to something I can spell without having to resort to google!

[Cricket]

The word "insurgency" is an interesting word. According to one dictionary, it means "insurrection against an existing government, usually one's own". This Foreign Service Officer says the Afghans that have taken up arms and are killing our troops are doing so because their country is under occupation. There can be no better motivation for a people to want to resist.

IMO we think of them as insurgents because it only serves our argument for being there alongside a de facto government when in reality we are occupiers, and that alone gives the enemy moral justification to resist and kill us. When England was invaded by the German blitzkrieg I don't think anyone thought of the English resistance as an insurgency.

[JaxBorn1962]

NO MORE TROOPS FOR THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN! Sorry for the Caps to start, but its time we  Bring OUR Dad's, Mom's, Brothers, Sister's back from Afghanistan! How do we win this (War) do we open up TEN McDonald's in KABUL? Or we could ship Pontiac over there and build cars. Now we all know that some level of troops will have to stay to keep peace between the Good and Evil in this country. But to put Good Men and Women up in these Crazy Mountains is just dumb. During good flight times we should Carpet bomb these area's or send in the Smart Planes without pilots to target the people we want to KILL! President Obama if I had your (Ear Today this is what I would tell you. It's time to Bring Most of are Troops Home and send no more so they can Die for no good reason Yours Truly Jaxborn1962

[BridgeTroll]

We just have to keep terrorists from making a safe base there again

Seems simple enough... But it isn't.  The Taliban is keenly interested in reestablishing itself as the government of Astan.  Currently they employ hit and run tactics on villages and bases intimidating the residents and leaving when US or Afghan forces move in.

If we pull out as some seem to advocate are you prepared for the Taliban to once again rule and dominate the populace?  Are you ready for them to invite al qaeda back to safe havens free from Pakistani army attacks?  If we are gone... how do we keep terrorists from making training camps and bases free from attack and interference?

Currently al qaida and Taliban forces are trapped between paki forces and coalition forces.  They are not free to move or set up bases in the open.  They must hide, they must be careful, they must be on guard.  Coalition forces leaving Afghanistan allows Taliban and al qaida to cross back into Afghanistan and continue what they began 10 years ago.

"Nation building" may not be the answer... but neither is leaving.

[JaxBorn1962]

BridgeTroll are we still in Vietnam? That war was ever won by us and the people we put in power. I can grant you this we will have to keep some Troops there but to send 40,000 more is just Dumb!