ELLEN GOODMAN (“Afghanistan’s forgotten class,’’ Op-ed, Nov. 6) provides a deep and moving analysis of the plight of women in Afghanistan after eight years of American war. She raises the question of whether, by terminating our misguided military efforts in that country, we would be abandoning the women of Afghanistan, too. This is a crucial question, but we should not be misled by the current and previous administrations’ equation of improving the situation in Afghanistan with military “victory.’’
Far more important than vanquishing the Taliban and Al Qaeda factions in Afghanistan, as many commentators have recently noted, is improving education, health care, and economic opportunity in that country. After eight years of American-sponsored warfare, Afghanistan is a corrupt center of global drug trade and has a terrible lack of adequate health care and educational resources, especially for women.
It’s time for the United States to invest in the goals that will really make a difference for the women of Afghanistan. This could be much more effective in winning hearts and minds than another 40,000 troops on the ground.
Peter Dorfman
Belmont 
