EDITOR:

I will list items in order from least consequential to most:

A. 22,174 Humvees (the administration disabled 27 of them before the take-over). 64,363 machine guns. 358,530 actual assault rifles. 126,295 pistols. 634 M-1117 armored personnel carriers with gun turret. 169 M-113 armored personnel carriers with machine gun. 50,000 trucks of all sizes. 16,035 night-vision equipment. Helicopters: 33 UH-60 Blackhawks, 33 Mi-17s (Russian), and 43 MD-530 scouts. A small number of C-47 helicopters (of which the administration disabled a few). Fixed-wing aircraft: 4 C-130s (Cargo), 23 Super Tacanos (ground attack), and 28 Cessna 208 Turbo-Caravans. 176 artillery pieces (mostly 105mm). 16,035 radios (mostly encrypted). Ammunition including 20,150,600 rounds of 7.62mm, 9,000,000 rounds of 50 caliber, and an uncountable number of 5.56 x 45mm for the assault rifles.

B. US Military HIIDE (Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment, Biometrics), used to identify Afghanis who helped us by retinal scans and facial recognition.

C. Bagram Airbase. The USA has three dangerous strategic adversaries in the World. Russia is near north of Bagram, China is east of Bagram, and Iran is near west of Bagram. (In Trump’s “deal” with the Taliban, the US was to keep Bagram in perpetuity.) In destroying the second suicide-bomb truck, the drone had to fly for five hours from another mid-east country to get to the target. From Bagram, it would have been 9 minutes.

D. We left thousands of Afghanis who risked their lives for us.

E. We left U S American citizens. The lowest estimate is 100; the higher estimates are up to 1,000s.

F. We left U S America’s reputation. Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and NATO no longer can trust us to protect or even help them.

Numbers above are from Wyoming Senator John Barrasso. It is important not to blame Biden (and Harris) for these losses. It is clear that Biden and Harris are not making these decisions.

Ralph B Blasier

Escanaba