Congressman McGovern and Former Foreign Service Officer to Speak at Holy Cross on Afghan War

U.S. Representative Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Matthew Hoh, a former foreign service officer and former Marine Corps captain, will discuss “Ten Years of War in Afghanistan: The Costs, Consequences and a Way Out,” on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Rehm Library, Smith Hall, at the College of the Holy Cross. The event, sponsored by the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, is free and open to the public.

October 7 marked the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan making it the longest war in American history. While President Obama says U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan will end by 2014, Congressman McGovern has called for end to the war now. McGovern  has been a leading critic of U.S. military policy in Afghanistan, coordinating bipartisan initiatives focused on the human and financial costs of the war, proposals for safely withdrawing U.S. forces from the country, and promoting a political solution for Afghanistan and the region. In May, his amendment to exit the war was defeated by a surprisingly close 215-to-204 vote, in a strong bipartisan demonstration of frustration with current policy.

Hoh was the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war in 2009. A senior civilian officer in Afghanistan at the time, he cited “doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy” for the war. He said, “To put simply, I fail to see the value or the worth in the continued U.S. casualties or expenditures of resources in support of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year-old civil war.”

Today, Hoh is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and the director of the Afghanistan Study Group, a collection of foreign and public policy experts and professionals advocating for a change in U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Thomas M. Landy, director of the McFarland Center, will moderate the discussion.

To learn more about this event and find lectures online, visit www.holycross.edu/mcfarlandcenter.

About the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.