The inner wire protects the base proper, and then, after a middle space of chicanes and other barriers, the outer wire acts as the interface between the base and the wider world. As a result, it’s almost always the outer wire that bears the brunt of the violence, of car bombs and ambushes. And it is almost always Afghans assigned to protect it. One of the soldiers shows me his weapon: an AK, ancient-looking, almost a caricature of a gun. They have body armor, they have good equipment, he says, why don’t we? We protect this place.
