Official resigns over Afghan war

Washington Post by Karen DeYoung | Oct. 27, 2009 (Special Report)

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 Full Story »

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4.2

by Manfred Ostrowski - Oct. 28, 2009

This thoughtful and revealing article tells the story of U.S. official Matt Hoh, and it presents his assessment of the war in Afghanistan. As an insider's account, the article offers a sincere and quite important contribution to the current debate about Afghanistan.

I share the opinion that the war in Afghanistan is not any longer simply a fight against Taliban hardliners and supporters of Islamic jihad, but that it is on the brink of becoming a conflict between some U.S. backed Kabul government and local (mainly Pashtun) people who see all armed foreigners as invaders. Significantly more troops will probably enhance antagonism.

.. the war has violently and savagely pitted the urban, secular, educated and modern of Afghanistan against the rural, religious, illiterate and traditional. It is this latter group that composes and supports the Pashtun insurgency.