Across recent administrations, one thing has remained consistent: deception about the Afghan War. Veteran Matthew Hoh joins host Chip Gibbons on episode eight of the podcast “Primary Sources” to discuss the decades of American intervention in Afghanistan and Hoh’s personal experience as a whistleblower—which was met with fierce pushback from the Pentagon.
There is no doubt one question left unanswered as we witness the daily advances made by the Taliban in Afghanistan: what difference did an American presence make? The same extremist group the U.S. sought to topple after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, remains strong, bent but unbroken.
As U.S. and Western forces gear up to depart from Afghanistan, the country’s more than 40-year war enters its next phase. This is nothing new for the Afghan people. In the course of a century, they have seen British and Soviet conquerors exit, leaving various would-be kings, power brokers and warlords to fill the vacuum. Through it all, it has been the Afghan people who suffer.
When President Joe Biden announced that US forces will leave Afghanistan by September 11 2021, the objections and remonstrations were swift. As retired Marine combat veteran Matthew Hoh writes in CNN, “these protests are nearly all disingenuous, false and specious, and meant to utilize fear to continue a tragic and purposeless war.”
When President Joe Biden announced that US forces will leave Afghanistan by September 11 2021, the objections and remonstrations were swift. As retired Marine combat veteran Matthew Hoh writes in CNN, “these protests are nearly all disingenuous, false and specious, and meant to utilize fear to continue a tragic and purposeless war.”
When President Joe Biden announced that US forces will leave Afghanistan by September 11 2021, the objections and remonstrations were swift. As retired Marine combat veteran Matthew Hoh writes in CNN, “these protests are nearly all disingenuous, false and specious, and meant to utilize fear to continue a tragic and purposeless war.”
When President Joe Biden announced that US forces will leave Afghanistan by September 11 2021, the objections and remonstrations were swift. As retired Marine combat veteran Matthew Hoh writes in CNN, “these protests are nearly all disingenuous, false and specious, and meant to utilize fear to continue a tragic and purposeless war.”