The mother of a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan says her son’s death was in vain after looking at the worsening security situation in the Asian country, where the Taliban toppled the government on Sunday. Sergeant Sean Binnie was killed in action at the age of 22.

“I gave my son to the Army; to the Government, but now I feel like he has just been used. Sean’s death now feels like a waste. I feel it was for nothing. It is such an empty, horrible feeling” Janette Binnie, mother of the slain military personnel, told i News. 

Sean Binnie was a part of the Royal Regiment of Scotland in the 3rd Battalion and served in The Black Watch, according to reports from Britain’s i News. Binnie, who was 22 years old at the time, was killed on May 7, 2009.

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Sergeant Binnie was volunteering to help military personnel tackle violence in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, where most of the British troops were focused. During a firefight, Sergeant Binnie was fatally shot by a gunman hiding in a doorway, according to reports from i News.

Sergeant Binnie’s mother said that the news of the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan was giving her an overwhelming sense of despair. She, however, added that her son’s sacrifice for the country made her feel “extremely proud”. 

She said, “My son grew up in a military background and the Army is all he ever wanted” while asking, “It makes me feel, what was the point of the whole thing?”, according to reports from i News.

Janette Binnie’s son joined the British armed forces in 2006, when he was just 16 years old. Before getting the title of a Sergeant, Sean Binnie was deployed to the Falkland Islands and Iraq. Later, he was sent off to Afghanistan.

The decades-long military operations in Afghanistan cost nearly 450 British lives and left hundreds of military personnel with severe injuries, according to reports from the Evening Standard.