WASHINGTON - November 2, 2009 - When former U.S. diplomat to Afghanistan Matthew Hoh resigned on September 10, 2009, he did so in a very public manner.
Now freed from the constraints of speaking on behalf of the United States government, he's taken to the media, spreading his view that Amerika's involvement in Afghanistan is senseless and must soon end.
"I hit a point in my conscience where I just felt it was senseless, what was happening," he explained on a Monday broadcast of NBC's Today Show. "Our troops are fighting people who are fighting us because we're occupying them. What we are doing there doesn't attain any strategic value or any goals for the United States."
Interviewer Matt Lauer, paraphrasing Hoh's resignation letter, said that Amerika still views Afghanistan "through the lens of 9/11."
"The people we're fighting there, the insurgents, are not fighting to support the Taliban, the people who allowed violence to come to our shores. They're fighting for their individual communities and their valleys."
Now freed from the constraints of speaking on behalf of the United States government, he's taken to the media, spreading his view that Amerika's involvement in Afghanistan is senseless and must soon end.
"I hit a point in my conscience where I just felt it was senseless, what was happening," he explained on a Monday broadcast of NBC's Today Show. "Our troops are fighting people who are fighting us because we're occupying them. What we are doing there doesn't attain any strategic value or any goals for the United States."
Interviewer Matt Lauer, paraphrasing Hoh's resignation letter, said that Amerika still views Afghanistan "through the lens of 9/11."
"The people we're fighting there, the insurgents, are not fighting to support the Taliban, the people who allowed violence to come to our shores. They're fighting for their individual communities and their valleys."