"Our support for the [the Afghan] government ... reminds me horribly of our involvement with South Vietnam: an unpopular and corrupt government we backed at the expense of our nation's own internal peace," Hoh wrote.
The U.S. government's ongoing strategy to reform Afghanistan to stop an al-Qaeda resurgence would "require us to additionally invade and occupy western Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan [and] Yemen.
"Our presence in Afghanistan has only increased destabilization and insurgency in Pakistan," Hoh wrote in his letter of resignation.
Hastings also criticizes the speech Obama delivered at West Point in December 2009 to escalate the war.
Obama's message, Hastings writes, was that he was "going to triple the scope of the war, an unprecedented escalation that will create an almost entirely new conflict.
"The loophole for an indefinite stay is kept wide open."
The real Petraeus scandal
Last month, news reports revealed that David Petraeus, McChrystal's successor, had an affair with Paula Broadwell, who recently published a glowing biography of Petraeus: "All In: The Education of General Petraeus."
Petraeus resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Nov. 9, just after the sex sandal broke.
Hastings said Petraeus' questionable military policies are vastly more important than his Broadwell affair -- another point overlooked by most of the mainstream media.
When Petraeus, who also commanded U.S. forces in Iraq, took charge in Afghanistan, Hastings writes, "He turned to a network of warlords, drug runners and thieves known as the Afghan government to implement his strategy."
Claiming progress, Petraeus stepped up the level of violence in Afghanistan, ordering more attacks by Special Forces teams and more armed strikes from tanks, airplanes and helicopters.
"Rather then decreasing the threat of terrorism, our large-scale troop interventions spawned an unprecedented level of suicide bombers," Hastings writes.
"The Operators" also raises questions about the long-term stability of the Afghan military. Hastings points out just 20 percent of its recruits can read, a quarter of all recruits desert "on a regular basis," child rape is endemic in the military and up to 60 percent of troops regularly smoke hash.
Hastings praises Vice President Joe Biden, who has become increasingly critical of the Afghanistan war.
Meanwhile, Obama seems to ignore many critics of the war, including Richard Holbrooke, an ambassador and foreign-policy adviser to several presidents. Between January 2009 and December 2010, Holbrooke served as a "special envoy" to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Obama's failure to embrace and listen to Holbrooke represented a larger failure to get control of the war in Afghanistan," Hastings argues.
The "media-military-industrial complex" has gained too much control today.
"Trash Sarah Palin all you want," Hastings writes, "but tread carefully when writing about the sacred cows like McChrystal and Petraeus. You're supposed to keep the myths going."
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.
"The Operators: The Wild And Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan" by Michael Hastings, New York: Blue Rider Press (Penguin Group), 417 pages. Hardback, $27.95.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Today, polls show most Americans have come to oppose continuing the Afghanistan War. Yet many media discussions about the war -- discussions that helped its escalation and its continuation -- routinely overlook or downplay the flawed thinking of our top leaders, including top military generals.
National discussions about our involvement in Afghanistan often ignore the key negative impacts wars have on Afghanistan and the future of the increasingly troubled Middle East.
Michael Hastings raises these questions in his recent book, "The Operators: The Wild And Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan."
In July 2010, "Rolling Stone" magazine published "The Runaway General," an article by Hastings that profiled former Gen. Stanley McChrystal, focusing on his arrogance and his constant pressure on the White House to escalate military confrontations in Afghanistan.
The article quickly led to McChrystal's resignation.
"The Operators" focuses on the arrogance and problems created by both McChrystal and Gen. David Petraeus -- the two top military leaders in the American invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11.
A contributing editor to "Rolling Stone," Hastings writes about time he spent talking with troops and top military leaders -- in the Middle East, Europe and at home in the U.S. -- in his new book.
"The Operators" is filled with questions raised by troops on the ground and by other top military and foreign policy leaders.
Many political leaders and the media routinely ignore those questions, Hastings writes.
Hastings quotes people like Roberts Gates, who spoke to cadets at West Point after he retired as Secretary of Defense in 2011, after four years of service in that top post under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
"Any future secretary of defense who advises the president to again send a big American land army into the Middle East or Africa," Gates said, "should have [his] head examined."
Hastings's new book stresses the impossibility of controlling a country like Afghanistan, a point so many have made before, including Andrei Sakharov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975.
But when Sakharov wrote an "Open Letter" to Leonid Brezhnev in 1980 warning against Soviet expansionism by invading Afghanistan, Soviet authorities arrested him and exiled him to the remote town of Gorky.
"Super militarization of our country, especially disastrous in our difficult economic conditions, is increasing," Sakharov wrote. "As a result, vitally important economic and social reforms are not being implemented."
Sakharov died in 1989, shortly before the Soviet Union collapsed, an historic event sparked by the brutal and disastrous occupation of Afghanistan.
Local disputes, warlords and a dysfunctional society
In Afghanistan today, Hastings believes, American "forces are not fighting and dying to combat terrorists, but are fighting and dying in local political disputes."
The American presence in Afghanistan has done nothing to get rid of the warlords that dominate so many areas of the troubled country.
"Once we begin to leave Afghanistan, it will be warlords ... who'll take over."
Hastings praises Matthew Hoh, a former Foreign Service officer and captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. In September 2009, Hoh became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war.
"Our support for the [the Afghan] government ... reminds me horribly of our involvement with South Vietnam: an unpopular and corrupt government we backed at the expense of our nation's own internal peace," Hoh wrote.
The U.S. government's ongoing strategy to reform Afghanistan to stop an al-Qaeda resurgence would "require us to additionally invade and occupy western Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan [and] Yemen.
"Our presence in Afghanistan has only increased destabilization and insurgency in Pakistan," Hoh wrote in his letter of resignation.
Hastings also criticizes the speech Obama delivered at West Point in December 2009 to escalate the war.
Obama's message, Hastings writes, was that he was "going to triple the scope of the war, an unprecedented escalation that will create an almost entirely new conflict.
"The loophole for an indefinite stay is kept wide open."
The real Petraeus scandal
Last month, news reports revealed that David Petraeus, McChrystal's successor, had an affair with Paula Broadwell, who recently published a glowing biography of Petraeus: "All In: The Education of General Petraeus."
Petraeus resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Nov. 9, just after the sex sandal broke.
Hastings said Petraeus' questionable military policies are vastly more important than his Broadwell affair -- another point overlooked by most of the mainstream media.
When Petraeus, who also commanded U.S. forces in Iraq, took charge in Afghanistan, Hastings writes, "He turned to a network of warlords, drug runners and thieves known as the Afghan government to implement his strategy."
Claiming progress, Petraeus stepped up the level of violence in Afghanistan, ordering more attacks by Special Forces teams and more armed strikes from tanks, airplanes and helicopters.
"Rather then decreasing the threat of terrorism, our large-scale troop interventions spawned an unprecedented level of suicide bombers," Hastings writes.
"The Operators" also raises questions about the long-term stability of the Afghan military. Hastings points out just 20 percent of its recruits can read, a quarter of all recruits desert "on a regular basis," child rape is endemic in the military and up to 60 percent of troops regularly smoke hash.
Hastings praises Vice President Joe Biden, who has become increasingly critical of the Afghanistan war.
Meanwhile, Obama seems to ignore many critics of the war, including Richard Holbrooke, an ambassador and foreign-policy adviser to several presidents. Between January 2009 and December 2010, Holbrooke served as a "special envoy" to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Obama's failure to embrace and listen to Holbrooke represented a larger failure to get control of the war in Afghanistan," Hastings argues.
The "media-military-industrial complex" has gained too much control today.
"Trash Sarah Palin all you want," Hastings writes, "but tread carefully when writing about the sacred cows like McChrystal and Petraeus. You're supposed to keep the myths going."
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.
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