"You see it on TV, you see it in the movies, but you just never expect it's going to be your family or your soldier," Amanda Meland, the oldest sister of Corporal T.J. Conrad, killed in a shooting at Kabul's interior ministry on Saturday, told the Associated Press news agency after being advised of  her bother's death.

Meland told the AP news agency Conrad was in good spirits Wednesday when she and other relatives last spoke with him via video-conferencing service Skype.

"He did say that things were starting to get crazy from the backlash," Meland said.