As I write this, 22 American servicemen have been killed in Afghanistan in the past 48 hours. Our leaders say we must stay in Iraq and Afghanistan until we win. How will we know if we win? What will we win?

We are losing our loved ones in countries that do not want us on their land. They attack our troops for being on their mountains and in their valleys, not because they hate us. The Afghan people have fought and defeated all invaders, from Alexander the Great, the British, the Russians and now the United States. Our generals say we need more troops. Every general in history always wants more troops.

These people have been fighting and killing each other in civil or tribal wars for centuries; our presence will never change that. We are in a quagmire, not winning anything, regardless of how many troops we send or billions we spend. We need to quit wasting the precious lives of our servicemen.

The president is taking a long time to decide what to do in Afghanistan, and that is a good thing. I hope he uses his intelligence and brings our troops home.

Jerry B. Johnston

Sandy