'Shocking': With grief and dismay, US veterans watch Afghanistan fall

The casket of a US soldier is seen through a doorway during a full military honors burial ceremony.

A decade after returning from Afghanistan, Marc Silvestri was convinced it was time for his comrades to come home too. But watching the chaotic pullout unfold in real time has stunned the army veteran. "It's been a tough couple days," the 43-year-old head of veterans services in Revere, Massachusetts told AFP. "I was in favor of the withdrawal, I thought it was time. Twenty-plus years, billions of dollars spent, I never expected the speed and the brazenness of the Taliban would be what it is," he said. "I never expected that the training and money we put into the Afghan army, that they would just lay down their weapons and turn the country over. That's been shocking to me."