Every so often, a newspaper story appears that simply must be read by everyone who cares about the most important issues of the day. Such is the case with Karen DeYoung's article in today's Washington Post about Matt Hoh, a State Department official and former U.S. Marine with years of on-the-ground experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hoh resigned in protest last month because he believes increasing U.S. combat-troop strength in Afghanistan will actually harm our interests in the region. "The United States military presence in Afghanistan greatly contributes to the legitimacy and strategic message of the Pashtun insurgency," Hoh writes. Whichever decision President Obama makes, the PDF of Hoh's eloquent resignation letter will be used by historians to show that the country was warned that it was about to embark on a tragic course.
Hoh is "no hippie," as he tells DeYoung. He writes from real-life experience as a highly regarded officer and civilian official. But because he was lower down the chain of command—closer to the real action and the real story—his words carry more power than that of high-level officials who tour the country for a few days accompanied by yes-men. Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy for the region, asked Hoh to work for him after he resigned (Hoh eventually declined) and Tony Blinken, who is Joe Biden's foreign-policy adviser, is meeting this week with Hoh. That testifies to the power of his message. You can read a lot of columns about Afghanistan by stateside blowhards of the left and right who don't really know what they're talking about. Or you can read Hoh.
