Bring messy conflict in Afghanistan to an end

Re: "U.S. has been down this road before," Other Opinions, Oct. 31.

Eugene Robinson's column is another reflection of the futility and contradiction in the Afghan war, with three U.S drug enforcement agents killed.

Who in our government can be so presumptuous to think we could eradicate the poppy fields in Afghanistan, when the war on the drugs in the U.S. has gone on in futility for 40 years?

Marine and Foreign Service Officer Matthew Poh, in his oracle-like letter of resignation, makes the same point: "If our concern is for a failed state crippled by corruption and poverty and under assault from criminal and drug lords, then if we bear our military and financial contributions to Afghanistan, we must reevaluate and increase our commitment to and involvement in Mexico."

Poh is not a voice in wilderness but represents many other soldiers and officers.

His letter is a harsh indictment of the whole matter. He calls into question the purpose of the war and what it really serves, other than the endless lost lives of our finest Americans, billions of taxpayer dollars and the provocation of Afghans.

Better to quote Poh: "I fail to see the value of the worth in continued U.S. casualties or expenditures of resources in support of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year old civil war."

His reference to a civil war inevitably reminds us of the Iraq civil war and when that mess will come to its final end, if ever.

The determination needed by President Barack Obama and others in the coming weeks is not to send more troops but to face the facts and stand up with integrity, like Officer Poh, and bring this conflict to a quick end.

Louis Scheppegrell

Metairie