State Department Official Steps Down over US Policy in Afghanistan

Matthew Hoh, a senior State Department official in Afghanistan resigned today, stating in a letter that he had "lost understanding of, and confidence in, the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan", according to Al-Jazeera.

Before joining the Department of State, Hoh was a captain in the Marine Corps, had combat experience and had served in the Pentagon, reported the Washington Post. The Post also said Hoh's resignation "sent ripples all the way to the White House." Hoh is the first known US official to resign over the United States' Afghan policy.

War Gaming Afghanistan

The US Department of Defense modeled the outcomes of the two most likely Afghanistan options available to President Obama this month. The Washington Post reported that these two scenarios were the deployment of 44,000 troops to help the Afghan government gain control of the country, or a more modest 10,000-15,000 troop increase dubbed "counter-terrorism plus."

General Stanley McChrystal drew criticism from members of the administration for publicly espousing favor for a large deployment earlier this month. McChrystal said that he would need at least 44,000 troops to force the Taliban out of populated areas and secure those areas until Afghan forces could take over. Both of the possible troop levels in the war game exercise were based on plans recommended by Gen. McChrystal. The 10,000-15,000 troop increase option would not include plans to force out Taliban shadow governments operating in Southern and Western Afghanistan. McChrystal also included an option that called for 80,000 troops, but this is not getting serious consideration.

CFR Interview on the Afghan Election Crisis

With President Hamid Karzai's announcement that he will participate in a runoff vote on November 7, achieving electoral legitimacy remains a compelling task.

Today at CFR.org, an interview with Peter Manikas yields insight on the roles of the IEC (Independent Election Commission) and the ECC (Election Complaints Commission). The IEC is comprised entirely of members of the Afghan government, and will carry out the runoff election. The ECC is comprised of international and Afghan officials.

As Manikas suggests in the interview, much responsibility for a successful runoff (in terms of procedural integrity) will likely rest on the IEC.