AT LAST -– with 490 of our soldiers killed, close on 3000 maimed , many thousands more traumatised for life, we have left Afghanistan to its fate.

“We have left that country a better place to live in”, trumpeted Cameron, the generals, and the arms dealers.

After 13 wasted wartorn years, two thirds 2/3rds of Afghanistan is controlled by the Taliban. The veil and burkha dominate the lives of women, and only a minority have access to education. One1 in four4 children die before their first year, and a third of the population live below even their extreme poverty line. Worst of all, the heroin poppy fields are flourishing, destroying the lives of so many of our young people.

The massive amount of arms we have left behind will find their way into ISIS via the Taliban, to spread terror and death.

As the last US and British soldiers trooped on to the planes to fly home, the bombs started exploding, killing dozens in Helmand Province and in the Government compound in Kabul.

Our 13 blood-soaked years have radicalised thousands of US and European Muslims who feel alienated from British the Islamophobia of society.

As the war machine of NATO continues to bomb Iraq and Syria, as we continue to pour millions of taxpayers’ money into its corrupt regimes, do we sit back and continue to enjoy cheap petrol at our pumps? B because that’s what it was all about.

Or do we give diplomacy a chance to build peace?

R Davies, Pandy Road, Bedwas