As American troops withdraw from Afghanistan and the Taliban seizes control of the country, a Gold Star mother from Stamford says the process isn't speaking well for the U.S. as a country or our commitment to our allies. 

Pat Parry lost her son, Brian, in 2011 while he served as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. He served for 10 years. 

In his memory, she does work at the Veteran’s Memorial Park in Stamford as her gift to the community.

Of the men and women from Stamford who served, her son is the only name listed who lost his life during the war in Afghanistan. Parry says, “I’m thrilled no one else in Stamford was killed."

On Aug. 6, 2011, Brian and 29 other servicemen were killed on a mission named Extortion 17.

More than a decade later, Parry says she is crushed to watch the Taliban seize control of Afghanistan’s capital. 

She says she believes her son would not have wanted the troops to leave the way that they did. “Not that we should not have left Afghanistan,” she says, “but the process, the way that it was done, was appalling, and a slap in the face to the veterans and Gold Star families who lost someone over there."

State Rep. Matt Blumenthal was on active duty from 2009 to 2012 with a deployment to Afghanistan. He says the priority needs to be securing the safety of refugees, and to make policy guidelines to do that simpler.

Blumenthal says there are a lot of lessons to be learned by this conflict both on a government and humanitarian level.

“Americans need to look seriously and very circumspect about when we’re going to use American military power, when we’re going send our troops into harm's way," he says.

In the fall, a tribute will be unveiled at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Stamford for Gold Star families.