US Official Resigns over Afghanistan Policy

Matthew Hoh recently joined the US Foreign Service to help Americans and Afghans win hearts and minds. He rapidly grew disgusted with the situation, and he has resigned. He denies that he's "some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love." He is an ex-Marine captain who has come to doubt the whole purpose of the fighting. In his resignation letter, he stated, "my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end." This journal fears that his doubts are fully justified and that the Pentagon and the White House are going to continue fighting this war in the wrong way.

Currently, the US and its allies (which includes more or less friendly Afghan forces) have about 300,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan. Most estimates of the Taliban and other resistance fighters number 25,000 at most. That's a 12 to 1 advantage, and most counter-insurgency experts believe a 10 to 1 ratio is sufficient. Yet, the Taliban are growing in strength. General Stanley McChrystal who commands there is asking for another 40,000. The general is no fool, and he has a load of special forces experience. But boosting the ratio to 14 to 1 accomplishes nothing new. As Churchill noted ages ago, after a certain point, more bombs merely make the rubble bounce.

What Captain Hoh came to realize is "how localized the insurgency was. I didn't realize that a group in this valley here has no connection with an insurgent group two kilometers away." He added in a piece in the Washington Post, "That's really what kind of shook me. I thought it was more nationalistic. But it's localism. I would call it valley-ism." A majority of the people there have "loyalties to their families, villages, valleys and to their financial supporters." It's hardly fertile ground for nation building.

Because there are "multiple, seemingly infinite, local groups," he wrote, the insurgency "is fed by what is perceived by the Pashtun people as a continued and sustained assault, going back centuries, on Pashtun land, culture, traditions and religion by internal and external enemies. The US and NATO presence 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 force against which the insurgency is justified."

The Post article also reports, "If the United States is to remain in Afghanistan, Hoh said, he would advise a reduction in combat forces. He also would suggest providing more support for Pakistan, better U.S. communication and propaganda skills to match those of al-Qaeda, and more pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to clean up government corruption -- all options being discussed in White House deliberations."

Captain Hoh's resignation is an act of a true patriot, sacrificing career to return his nation to its proper path. This journal backs the Hoh Strategy wholeheartedly, and it hopes the Obama Administration will, too. While Afghanistan remains the right war, the current approach is wrong.

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Kensington Review Home