Letters | War might not be done with Afghans, but Afghans are done with war
- The US is on track to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11, but Americans must not confuse that land with the horrors of that day

There will be men like my dead brother, men who are not yet men, who have never lived in an Afghanistan at peace, never known anything but fear and sorrow in the faces of their mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters.
No education, no concept of vocation, no joyful Eid celebrations, no chance to realise “Afghan” or “Muslim”. For millions, there will be no family to guide and nurture them, in their faith, in their own homeland.
The Afghan heart for war is not there. It never was. Many believe it was ripped out by the Soviet invasion. That it was diced to pieces by the illegitimate wars that followed.
In a Muslim land, there is not enough water or trees. There are, however, rocks and dirt and thirst and hunger and another disease – as if it wasn’t hard enough for Afghans to breathe.
