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Breaking ranks with the President and Stanley McChrystal, General Wesley Clark told Congress this Tuesday that the US should begin planning an exit from Afghanistan. Clark’s voice is part of a growing chorus within the ranks of the military and government calling for a reality check on the war. Last week leaked memos revealed that Karl Eikenberry, the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, advised the White House to deny an increase in troops. Eikenberry believes that Afghan President Hamid Karzai must demonstrate a political commitment to ending corruption for a build-up in forces to be effective. But the strongest call so far has come from a Foreign Service officer named Matthew Hoh. Hoh, the Senior Civilian Representative for the U.S. government serving in Zabul Province, resigned from his position in protest of the war. His eloquent four-page letter announcing his leave unequivocally states that the U.S. military strategy exacerbates the nation’s civil war, breeds insurgencies that seek funding from the Taliban, and bolsters a government dominated by drug lords and war criminals. Hoh wrote, “I do not believe any military force has ever been tasked with such a complex, opaque, and Sisyphean mission. Our forces have become committed to conflict in an indefinite and unplanned manner that has become a cavalier, politically expedient, and Pollyannaish misadventure.” As for the U.S., he states the war has devastated military families, and arrested the nation’s economy.

GUEST: Matthew Hoh, former Foreign Service Officer in Afghanistan who resigned in protest of the war

Special Thanks to Brave New Films for help recording this interview.