Editor's note: This letter from 1st Lt. Jeffrey Turner to his family in Bedford was something the family wanted to share with everyone. It is printed with permission of Lt. Turner and his parents.

As I write this, I am officially en route to the United States, and I can't wait to put on regular clothes and have some Guinness and Five Guys burgers. And so here are my final thoughts on the war in Afghanistan, from which I am returning.

First and foremost, anyone who has ever said we should pull out immediately is out of his or her mind. Forgetting about Afghanistan is what allowed September 11th to happen in the first place. Pakistan funneled our money and weapons to extremists while the Afghans fought the Soviets. The Soviets left, we left; civil war ensued. Six years later, (most) Afghans welcomed the Taliban simply because they brought stability, despite their brutality. Educated and wealthy people left Afghanistan, the Taliban time-warped the country to 700 AD, bin Laden had a sanctuary, and the rest is history.

Likewise, anyone who thinks the Taliban is going away is also out of his or her mind. Pakistan will play both sides and provide a safe haven for the Taliban. This war and the development we've been able to create will hold off the Taliban militarily, but much like Sinn Fein/IRA or Hezbollah, the Taliban will play a part socially and politically. The Taliban are religious fanatics playing the “Islam-says-do-this” card to people who don't know any better because they aren't educated. Hence, the goal should be to develop this country enough so that the supporters of the Taliban will at least be forced to state their cause through political discourse, not through terrorism and brutality.

I think that we're just about there. The Afghan Army is no Marine Corps, but it can beat the Taliban. The police are no NYPD, but they have enough of a network to root out those who want to disrupt progress — they find more IEDs than American forces do, thanks to local tips. I've seen both of these firsthand.

The media usually only go after the bad stuff, writing articles about how surprising it is that Taliban write poetry or that the Wikileaks “only” contained “bad” reports. On the contrary, everyone here knows that poetry is a huge part of Afghan culture; the military usually only send up reports regarding enemy actions, hence why Wikileaks had all “bad” reports.

No one reports about the thousands of kids and adults across Afghanistan beginning their education, starting businesses, peacefully solving problems through community gatherings, steering away from poppy, and (slowly) returning to a country with security, development and an economy. The real heroes are the ones who are no longer with us: Coalition Forces, Afghan National Security Forces, and innocent civilians alike.

These people have an amazing culture and history here, and they deserve some peace now, much more than plenty of other countries (in my opinion). So with that, please continue to support this through to the end. Thank you all for the support you've given to me, my Marines, and the Afghans out here. We're serious when we say we can't do it without your support, whether it's from pens or pencils for the schools out here, a Shinedown CD, Fun Dip, thanking service members you see back in the States, putting together a care package, or just a prayer or two.

Lastly, one perk of being the COC WO is naming operating bases when sending RCT cross-boundary coordination ConOps for approval by the SWO. (Sorry, that was too much fun.) Translation: there is now a swath of land out here officially named ManchVegas. Boo ya.

Jeffrey Turner of Bedford is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.