Lives and gains in Afghanistan thrown away

I'm finding the current events in Afganistan absolutely bizarre. All these political commentators, politicians and the media claiming we were unprepared and deserting the people of Afghanistan. How bizarre is that?

President Barack Obama made it clear in 2011 that Americans involvement in Afghanistan was going to end. He then went on to cut the number of American Servicemen who were serving in Afghanistan. President Trump then made a deal with the Taliban which would see all American troops leave in May 2021 this year, everyone knew what was going to happen. However, President Biden, he didn't apparently go for that deal, he kept American troops there while the Afghan Government got prepared and to train and equip their security forces, so that when they left they would be handed back control of Afghanistan to govern for themselves.

What the coalition forces didn't foresee was the sudden collapse of the Afghan Government and Army. Even the Taliban have said how surprised they were in capturing the country so quickly and easily.

So when President Biden spoke on TV he was questioning why did they not fight and prevent the Taliban from gaining control? This is the reason why we saw the chaotic scenes at the airport.

So after 20 years of involvement and all the gains in Afghanistan, we now find that maybe, those who have died, whether it be from Afghanistan forces, US service personnel, UK and coalition forces from NATO plus civilians, appears to have been thrown away in just five days.

Allan Woodham

West View

Nythe

Stop the War was right

We respond to the pictures and reports recently featured in the SA of the ongoing chaos in Afghanistan, we're sure that many readers can remember twenty years ago when Tony Blair and George Bush launched their so called 'War on Terror', which they both said would rid the world of terrorism and would make the world a better safer place for us all to live in.

In the build up to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan a 'Stop the War coalition', was formed by various left-wing groups to campaign against the UK's involvement in wars. It held several meetings across Swindon where various politicians including Jeremy Corbyn spoke about the dangers and consequences of military action in muslim countries (as we remember neither Julia Drown or Michael Wills, Swindon's two MPs at the time attended any of the meetings).

Twenty years on from the 'War on Terror', what have we seen?, exactly what Jeremy Corbyn said we would see hundreds of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of displaced people, millions of refugees, more terrorism and more anger and hatred towards the west. Peace and democracy can only be achieved by political struggle within a society and not by bombs, bullets and invasions, when will our leaders realise this?

Martin and Mark Webb

Old Town

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Time for a 'none of the above' voting option

Regarding Geoff Fry's letter into days Adver about spoiling his vote, it's about time that there was a final line on every ballot paper "None of the above" so that a voter can officially express their disapproval and be counted as an official vote.

By the way, I didn't vote, as I disapprove of the position.

It's a complete waste of money that could be spent on the Frontline Police.

Gerry Taylor

Newcastle Street

Swindon