"I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan."
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 scanned this letter from a pdf using OCR and opened it as a document with Apple Pages. I do not have time to clear the errors but you get the idea:
source: http://2164th.blogspot.com/
_______________________
September 10,2009
Ambassador Nancy J. Powell
Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Ambassador Powell,
It is with great regret and disappointment I submit my resignation from my
appointment as a Political Officer in the Foreign Service and my post as the Senior Civilian Representative for the US. Government in Zabul Province. I have served six of the previous ten years in service to our country overseas, to include deployment as a U.S. Marine officer and Department of Defense civilian in the Euphrates and Tigris River Valleys of Iraq in 2004-2005 and 2006-2007. I did not cnler into this position lightly or with any undue expectations nor did I believe my assignment would be without sacrifice, hardship or difficulty. However, in the course of my five months of service in Afghanistan, in both Regional Commands East and South, I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan. 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. To put simply: I fail to see the value or the worth in continued U.S. casualties or ell.penditures of resources in sUP)Xlrt of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year old civil war.
This fall will mark the eighth year of U.S. combat, governance and
development operations within Afghanistan. Next fall, the United States'
occupation will equal in length the Soviet Union's own physical involvement in
Afghanistan. Like the Soviets, we continue to secure and bolster a failing state,
while encouraging an ideology and system of government unknown and unwanted
by its people.
If the history of Afghanistan is one great stage play, the United States is no
more than a supporting actor, among several previously, in a tragedy that not only
pits tribes, valleys, clans, villages and families against one another, but, from at
least the end of King Zahir Shah's reign, has violently and savagely pitted the
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urban, secular, educated and modem of Afghanistan against lhe rural, religious,
illiterate and traditional It is this latter group that composes and suppons the
Pashtun insurgency.
The Pashtun insurgency. which is composed of multiple, seemingly infinite, local groups, is fed by what is perceived by the Pashlun people
as a continued and sustained assault., going back centuries, on Pashtun land,
culture,traditions and religion by internal and external enemies. The U.S. and
NATO presence and operations in Pashtun valleys and villages, as well as Afghan
army and police units that are led and composed of non-Pashtun soldiers and
police, provide an occupation foJ'(:c against which the insurgency isjustified. In
both RC East and South, I have observed that the bulk of the insurgency fights not
for the white banner of the Taliban, but rather against the presence of foreign
soldiers and taxes imposed by an unreplcsentative government in Kabul.
The United States military presence in Afghanistan greatly contributes to the
legitimacy and strategic message of the Pashtun insurgency. In a like manner our
backing of the Afghan government in its current fonn continues 10 distance the
government from the people. The Afghan govemment's failings, particularly
when weighed against the sacrifice of American lives and dollars, appear legion
and metastatic:
• Glaring corruption and unabashed graft;
• A President whose confidants and chief advisers comprise drug lords
and war crimes villains, who mock our own rule of law and
countemarcotics efforts;
• A system of provincial and distriClleaders constituted of local power
brokers, opportunists and strongmen allied to the United States solely
for, and limited by, the value of our USAID and CERP contnlctS and
whose own political and economic interests stand nothing to gain
from any positive or genuine attempts at reconciliation; and
• The recent election process dominated by fraud and discredited by
low voter turnout, which has created an enonnous victory for our
enemy who now claims a popular boycott and will call into question
worldwide our government's military, economic and diplomatic
support for an invalid and illegitimate Afghan government.
Our support for this kind of government, coupled with a misu~ing
of me insurgency's true nature, reminds me horribly of our involvement with South
Vietnam; an unpopular and corrupt government we backed at the expense of our
Nation's own internal ~ace, against an insurgcncy whose nationalism we
arrogantly and ignorantly mistook as a rival to our own Cold War ideology.
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I find specious the reasons we ask for bloodshed and sacrifice from our
young men and women in Afghanistan. If.honest, our slated strategy of securing
Afghanistan to prevent al-Qaeda resurgence or regrouping would require us to
additionally invade and occupy western Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan. Yemen, etc.
OUf prescnce in Afghanistan has only increased destabilization and insurgency in
Pakistan where we rightly fear a toppled or weakened Pakistani government may
lose control of its nuclear weapons. However, again, to follow the logic of our
stated goals we should garrison Pakistan, not Afghanistan. More so, the September
11 th attacks, as well as the Madrid and London bombings, were primarily planned
and organized in Western Europe; a point that highlights the threat is not one tied
to traditional geographic or political boundaries. Finally, if our concern is for a
failed state crippled by cOITUption and poverty and under assault from criminal and
drug lords, then if we bear our military and financial contributions to Afghanistan,
we must reevaluate and increase our commitment to and involvement in Mexico.
Eight years into war, no nation has ever known a more dedicated, well
trained, experienced and disciplined military as the U.S. Anned Forces. I do not
believe any military force has ever been tasked with such a complex, opaque and
Sisyphean mission as the U.S. military has received in Afghanistan. The tactical
proficiency and perfonnance of our Soldiers, Sailors, Ainnen and Marines is
unmatched and unquestioned. However, this is not the European or Pacific
theaters of World War II, but rather is a war for which our leaders, unifonned,
civilian and elected, have inadequately prepared and resourced OUT men and
women. Our forces, devoted and faithful, have been committed to conflict in an
indefinite and unplanned manner that has become a cavalier, politically expedient
and Pollyannaish misadvenrure. Similarly, the United States has a dedicated and
talented cadre of civilians, both U.S. government employees and contractors, who
believe in and sacrifice for their mission, but have been ineffectually trained and
led with guidance and intent shaped more by the political climate in Washington,
D.C. than in Afghan cities, villages, mountains and valleys.
"We are spending ourselves into oblivion" a very talented and intelligent
commander, one of America's best, briefs every visi tor, staff delegation and senior
officer. We are mortgaging our Nation's economy on a war, which., even with
increased commitment, will remain a draw for years to come. Success and victory,
whatever they may be, will be real ized not in years, after billions more spent, but
in decades and generations. The United States does not enjoy a national treasury
for such success and victory.
---. --------------------------------
•
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I realize the emotion and tone of my letter and ask you excuse any ill
temper. I trust you understand the nature orthis war and the sacrifices made by so
many thousands of families who have been separnted from loved ones deployed in
defense of our Nation and whose homes bear the fractures, upheavals and scars of
mUltiple and compounded deployments. Thousands of our men and women have
returned home with phys ical and mental wounds, some thaI will never heal or will
only worsen with time. The dead retum only in bodily form to be received by
families who must be reassured their dead have sacrificed for 8 purpose worthy of
futures lost, love vanished, and promised dreams unkept. I have lost confidence
such assurances can anymore be made. As such, I submit my resignation.
Matthew P. Hoh
Senior Civilian Representative
Zabul Province, Afghanistan
cc: Mr. Frank Ruggiero
Ms. Dawn Liberi
Ambassador Anthony Wayne
Ambassador Karl Eikenberry
The letter can be found here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/ssi/wpc/ResignationLetter.pdf
