Washington, DC

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Thank god I am not alone in what I think of war in Afghanistan. I feel increasingly confident, as a non- military person, to assert my opinion after the resignation of Mathew Hoh, a former marine and now a former official at the State Department. The reason: "I fail to see the value or the worth in continued US casualties or expenditures of resources in support of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year-old civil war," he said in his resignation letter.

Let's flash back to the post September 11th mood of the country and remember when President Bush declared war on terrorism avenging the lives of 3000 plus innocent American people. We knew the act was led by Al-Qaeda with Osama Bin Laden leading the terrorists.

Now, after more than 8 years of bloody war with Iraq, a war that had nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden, knowing that he was hiding and operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, president Obama came to the conclusion that our war should have been in Afghanistan in the first place. The president has dubbed the Afghan war a war of necessity and a war for a just cause. Fine, but it seems that we are in Afghanistan for the wrong reasons. We have to ask ourselves, where is Osama and those responsible for terrorizing American citizens? Are we still in Afghanistan to catch Osama or have we now changed our goal to the equally difficult tasks of nation building and the installation of a democratic regime. Once again we are diverting from our goal. What is our goal? Without a clear mission we will continue to run in place in Afghanistan and we will be viewed by the Afghanis as mere occupiers.

It should not be surprising if some of us, including Officer Mathew Hoh, believe that we should not be in Afghanistan. We are in denial about the Afghanis perception of us as occupiers in their country. We are assaulting their way of lives in the name of democracy or war against terrorism. They simply do not like us in their country.

Yes, we should still go after Osama and those involved in September 11th, but not by occupying a country and causing so many civilian and American casualties when we do not even know if the real enemy is there.

There are so many other ways to find and eliminate Osama and the Taliban. As Vice President Biden, the most vocal proponent of a more limited military presence in Afghanistan suggests, a "counterterrorism" strategy that is focused more on strikes specifically against Al Qaeda targets appears to be the most effective way to battle Osama and his cohorts.

Pulling out or limiting our military involvement in Afghanistan does not mean that we will no longer be able to assist the Afghani people. We can still offer much humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. We can educate the public and help women and children through NGOs, UN and other governmental channels without sacrificing the lives of our young men and women by sending troops and getting engaged in a war.

Let's be pragmatic and commend the dedicated soldiers like Mathew Hoh. It is soldiers like Hoh that have the temerity to speak the truth and to tell the real story of how things are, and how things ought to be. With the help of Hoh and others we can redefine our mission with concrete objectives.

It is not our responsibility to merely accept the failings of the failed military conquests of prior administrations. Instead, it is our responsibility to correct those missteps and implement change that will benefit us domestically and abroad. The first step in that change is to redefine the goal. A goal that should emphasize the eradication of terrorism and the preservation of American lives.

Zoe Rastegar

producer/ host

Accent productions, Inc.

Washington, DC

202-841-8733

202-333-2325