We need to tell President Obama and Congress to send the 40,000 additional troops needed by Gen. Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan.

It's time for him to stop playing politics with his base and take action. We are putting our own troops in jeopardy by not giving them the support they need. We must not allow them to keep fighting and dying without the chance of winning. Considering the sacrifices they and their families have already made, they deserve better than this.

We cannot let the Afghan people and the Pakistanis down by pulling out now and allowing them to be slaughtered by the Taliban. The situation in Pakistan is critical. The Pakistanis have begun a major offensive against the Taliban in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan. We asked Pakistan to join us as our ally in this war, and now they are about to be over-run by the Taliban, who would take over the government gaining control of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Not only that, but if we were to pull out, we would hand over a base of operations to the al-Qaida terrorists from which to launch attacks on America.

Our credibility with the rest of the world would be destroyed, not to mention risking our own security at home. Never mind our reasons for getting into the war. We are in it. And forget about the cost of continuing the war. The amount we have spent on the war so far pales by comparison to the hundreds of billions that are being squandered by the Obama administration.

Jay Stanford,

Missoula