Midcoast Forum on Foreign Relations

Matthew P. Hoh

March 2010

Topic: The necessity for a political settlement to the Afghan War

Matthew Hoh is a former State Department official who resigned in protest from his post in Afghanistan over U.S. strategic policy and goals in Afghanistan in September 2009. Prior to his assignment in Afghanistan Matthew served in Iraq; first in 2004-5 in Salah-ed-Din province with a State Department reconstruction and governance team and then in 2006-7 in Anbar Province as a Marine Corps company commander. When not deployed, Matthew worked on Afghanistan and Iraq policy and operations issues at the Pentagon and State Department from 2002-8. Matthew’s writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post and his resignation letter has been cited as an Essential Document by the Council on Foreign Relations. Matthew was recently named Ridenhour Prize Recipient for Truth Telling.