They spent hours driving around in the outskirt southern regions of Zabul. The north of Atghar was a treacherous region to patrol, its mountainous terrain are not ideal roads for a long distant road trip. They hadn’t found anyone or anything, even though some yearned for action to kill the boredom. It was a barren land of rock and sand.
However, the worst part about the whole trip was the air-conditioning unit in the Humvee Ben was in, broke down hours after they left base.
Ben found it remarkable that people could make such a hostile place their home. A place as hostile as that region of the world held countless civilisations and produced a people willing to fight and die for that land. First the Soviets, and Ben had no doubt that his country could face a similar defeat.
Over a decade and a half of war, and nothing changed in the slightest. He was no fool; he understood that he was a hostile force and the villain in the war. However, he had no capabilities to protest effectively. No matter how immoral the US occupation of Afghanistan would be, or the similarities between this war and Vietnam. His top priority was getting out alive.
Curly leaned back into his chair as he pulled out a pornographic magazine to read over. He has a third one? Ben thought to himself as he rolled his eyes at Curly’s casual display of looking over smut in view of everyone. While it would be a punishable offence to do such a thing. Being stuck in the desert for months without a woman’s touch and an infinite pile of boredom caused a lot of men to go insane. On paper, Curly was disciplined for his behaviour. In reality, everyone just ignored him.
‘Earl, do you think we are finding a single person or an entire team?’ Curly casually asked without taking his eyes off the magazine.
‘Don’t know. But I doubt it is just a single entity that could pull off those ambushes. It has to be a team of professionals.’
‘Would it be… I don’t know. Territorial Ground or some other private army? Maybe the Kenyan Ghost?’
Ben paused for a moment to think of a response. But he dismissed the idea that some private army would have the capabilities. Nor did he believe an assassin would be successful. They would also have to be hired, which he doubted the Taliban or other insurgent forces would be able to afford. ‘Possible, but I won’t put my bets on it. But seeing how this war is going, anything is possible.’
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Curly put his magazine to the side. ‘We are doing fine. We killed a lot more of those bastards than they killed us.’
‘And every Taliban soldier we killed, three more will take their place.’ Ben sharply responded. ‘We are fighting an insurgency with no end in sight.’
‘We kick their ass whenever we get in conflict with them. ISIS and the Taliban are both equally incompetent. They use the same strategies and they hate each other for some god-forsaken reason.’ Curly leaned to the front to point to the Humvee they were tailing. ‘And the Afghan Army is fucking useless! Without us, they would collapse in a week. I don’t know why he is coming along. Man is just deadweight. Can we even trust him?’
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‘Yes, we can and will trust him. He is part of our squad whether you like it or not.’ Ben frowned as he knew Curly was parroting talking points without understanding the finer details in the conflict. ‘We have been fighting in this country for a decade and a half. Thousands of our people died here and thousands more civilians die the longer we stay. And maybe we are the only reason the current Afghani government is in power, but the truth is we are also to blame for the situation at hand.’
‘They caused 9/11…’
‘The people who caused 9/11 were in Pakistan.’ Ben interrupted. ‘We killed the guy years ago and yet we are still here. We have no point of being here other than taking the country’s resources.’
Curly scoffed at the notion. ‘That is payment for us helping them.’
‘It is extortion, Curly. We have the means to keep the government in line, which we do, by the way. And they know they need us. I mean, man. We invaded the country and took over it. How are we even helping the people here?’
‘By keeping the Taliban away.’
Ben stopped himself from continuing the conversation. He was too exhausted for a political argument with someone who was staring at pictures of naked women not long ago. He could point out how they were the Taliban’s best recruitment strategy. But pointing that out would only make the trip more bitter than it should be. ‘Let’s move on to something else. Let’s just agree to disagree.’
Curly nodded in agreement. ‘I can stand for that.’ He turned to the machine-gunner and lightly tapped his leg. ‘Hey! You know explosives. What do you think of the pictures you saw about the ambush and such?’
‘Fuck if I know, Curly.’ The gunner peered down to respond. ‘It isn’t like any IED or RPG I know.’
With a bored expression, Curly shrugged. It was clear to Ben that Curly already knew the answer, but he just wanted to have some sort of conversation to pass the time. ‘Sergeant Earl, who has the best tits? Emalia Clarke or Margot Robbie.’
Ben folded his arms, unsure how or why such a question was appropriate. But he would admit that it was marginally better than talking politics. ‘Natalie Portman.’
Curly raised a brow. ‘Her? Why? She wasn’t even an option’
‘She’s a very talented actress and a very smart woman.’ Everyone stared at Ben in silence, like they knew there was more to his explanation. ‘I liked her in Star Wars. She was my highschool crush.’
‘You’re the sort to stay loyal to your crushes, are you?’ Curly smirked.
‘Yep.’
The driver glanced at Ben for a moment before nodding in agreement. As they journeyed on the road, they would continue talking about their celebrity crushes and comparing them based on attractiveness. Though it was best described as a very perverted conversation, as everyone chimed in. Ben was able to figure out everyone of their type of woman they preferred. However, it passed the time and gave him a few laughs here and there.
