09-15-2021, 08:58 PM
![[Image: _120566295_1ae016ec-1e27-4bd6-b0ab-62b9a47c2ca8.png]](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/E782/production/_120566295_1ae016ec-1e27-4bd6-b0ab-62b9a47c2ca8.png)
From the outside, it might seem odd that the voters of Sandy Hook, Kentucky, are so deeply distraught by the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan that some speak of the events with tears.
The vagaries of America's foreign entanglements do not usually much figure into the lives of those residing in this tiny hamlet, the seat of Elliott County and its only real town.
Yet as he stood outside his church on a clear Sunday morning, Charles Johnson's voice broke as he described how he saw the US pull-out ordered by President Joe Biden.
It was "an absolute disgrace" that American troops left "in the middle of the night", abandoning Afghan allies who had "sacrificed their lives, and their reputations, and the safety of their families," the preacher said.
"There was no reason for them to die," he said. "They didn't have to die."
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