If you’ve been online today you’ve probably already seen the link, but Karen DeYoung’s Washington Post profile of Matthew Hoh, a State Department officer who recently became the first U.S. official to resign over the war in Afghanistan, is really worth a read—not just for what Hoh has to say about Afghanistan, but also for the discussion of his experiences as a decorated soldier in Iraq. (The TV show Rescue Me, about New York firefighters who survived 9/11, helped him cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.)
Hoh’s resignation letter is available as a PDF at the Post site; a non-PDF version is here. Spencer Ackerman, Michael Crowley, and, more skeptically, James Joyner all have interesting thoughts.
Update: Andrew Exum relays some skepticism from a reader.
Greg Marx is an associate editor at CJR. Follow him on Twitter @gregamarx.