IN the light of the Taliban taking Kabul we are being asked to believe that the purpose of the United States, the United Kingdom and NATO having troops in Afghanistan for 20 years was not the so called ‘War on Terror’ , but democratic nation building.

At the same time we are being made aware of democratic failures in our own political systems.

Our governments’ concept of 'nation' currently requires a concomitant xenophobia, and a reluctance to engage in discourse and co-operation with others.

This divisive approach is repeated in relations between regions and factions within our nations.

The contemporary dominant traits of many of our leading politicians are widely reported to be cronyism and graft accompanied by a readiness to dismiss any electoral failure they suffer as being the result of cheating by their opponents.

Given the global reach of social media we can be certain that Afghans are fully aware of this, and sceptical of the concept of democracy our governments seek to promote.

Maurice Vassie,

Cartmans Cottage,

Deighton, York

...AS much as the citizens of Afghanistan need help, the pious pontificating contributions in Parliament by many MPs will do absolutely nothing to improve the situation.

Peter Rickaby,

West Park,

Selby

North Yorkshire