Dear Editor,

My heart aches for the Afghan people but I’m so proud that we have a president who has enough nerve to rip the band-aid off.

We were sucked into the business of nation building when we should’ve realized that this would become a quagmire just like Vietnam.

It wouldn’t matter if we stayed there for one more day or ten more years, the Taliban was always waiting for the day we left.

Regarding women in Afghanistan, I feel that the change has to come from them.

As someone who has lived in Muslim countries, I personally feel one of the problems is that many of the women tend to keep each other down by being concerned about what other people will think if their daughters work at a certain profession, ride a bike or take a walk by themselves. For a group who is 50% of the population it has to be the women who make these changes.

Patricia Meyer

Powhatan Point