"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:

_______________________

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