JOHN Gilmore’s letter about Afghanistan (HAS, Oct 26) made my blood boil. He seems to have missed or dismissed the reason for the war in Afghanistan.

He, along with a lot of other people, think our troops should be brought home and that they shouldn’t have been deployed there in the first place.

Does he not realise that one of the reasons for going into and taking control of Afghanistan was to take out the Taliban-backed al Qaida terrorist camps, the leaders of whom are waging a war all over the world?

Does he not realise that our troops, along with the Americans and a few other allies, are there putting their lives on the line so that people like him and me can sit with all our home comforts and write emails to The Northern Echo?

What I say is that every night before we all go to bed we should get on our knees and thank God for the bravery that our troops are showing in foreign countries.

Ken Jones, Sedgefield, Co Durham