A ‘step along that dismal road’

Re “In reversal, Taliban says women must wear burqas,” May 8

Further repression of the rights of Afghan women has once again been mandated in the form of wearing burqas, the tent-like clothing that covers even the faces of those who wear them.

American females are nowhere near being forced into wearable tents or being told not to leave our homes or acquire an education, as the Taliban militants are decreeing for their country. However, with the reversal of Roe vs. Wade apparently at hand, the prospect of losing autonomy over our bodies is seemingly just over the horizon, a backward step along that dismal road.

Ending a right that American women have counted on for nearly 50 years does not merely suggest, rather it shouts that we are headed, like Afghan women, in exactly the wrong direction: back to a past we had every right to believe we had put behind us. Joan Walston

Santa Monica

I am surprised by the concern in the U.S. over the Taliban’s reversal of position regarding the wearing of burqas.

I distinctly remember both Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh informing the American people during their Supreme Court confirmation hearings that Roe vs. Wade was established law and worthy of respect as precedent, strongly suggesting they would not vote to overturn it.

Clearly there are liars, and damn liars, everywhere. Arlene Shayer

Visalia, Calif.

It is incredible to reflect on the fact that it took 20 years, four presidents, $2.3 trillion and more than 2,400 service members’ lives for the U.S. to replace the Taliban with the Taliban in Afghanistan. John Martoni

Long Beach