Long term vs. short term and the world's view of the U.S.

Re: “Marines Join in Sorrow After Afghan Casualties” (news article Feb 17)

To the Editor:

Where war walks, death dances. People on all sides of a conflict will die, in C.J. Chivers article about the civilian deaths in Marja Afghan where some 12 people lost their lives due to one or two 675 pound rockets. The comments made by the Afghan interior minister Muhammad Hanif Atmar are what move me to write. He and other community leaders in the area though saddened by the deaths are able to see the bigger picture with respect to the control of the Taliban. Atmar understood that they died for the freedom of their country and that the Taliban are responsible for the endangerment of these people by picking sniper posts among them. I am grateful that the leaders are not blaming the U.S. for the deaths but I am concerned for the individuals in the community itself. If so many little events occur, of a similar nature, the people of Afghanistan will have more of a melancholy thought of us. We might become in their eyes an unnecessary evil and the tide might turn. At the same time no matter how the people may view us, as we are already doing it, it is important to continue opposing the Taliban and being intolerant of their indiscriminant killing.

Estelle S.
Denver, Feb 19, 2010