US diplomat resigns over Afghan war

A former US Marine-turned diplomat has become the first American official to resign in protest at the war in Afghanistan.

Matthew Hoh, who fought in Iraq and joined the US State Department after leaving the military, resigned from his post as the senior US civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban stronghold.

He said he believed the war was simply fuelling the uprising.

“I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the US’s presence in Afghanistan,” Mr Hoh wrote in his resignation letter, dated September 10 but published early today.

“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.”

Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told the Washington Post he disagreed that the war “wasn’t worth the fight” but agreed with much of Mr Hoh’s analysis.

Meanwhile US president Barack Obama told a military audience he would not be hurried as he considered whether to alter US strategy in Afghanistan.

“I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm’s way. I won’t risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary,” Mr Obama said during a visit to Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Florida.

Mr Obama is debating whether to send tens of thousands more troops to the country to curb the Taliban-led uprising.

Doubts about bolstering the US force grew after widespread fraud marred the August 20 presidential election, raising doubt whether the US and its Nato allies had a reliable partner in the fight against the militants.

Afghan officials will hold a run-off election on November 7 between President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah after United Nations-backed auditors threw out nearly a third of the incumbent’s votes, dropping him below the 50% threshold required for a first-round win in the 36-candidate field.