
This photocopy of an image of Abdul Razaq, the killer of the three Marines, was given to the writer by a Marine in Helmand.
Abdul Razaq looks off a balcony of the Kabul Military Training Center. It is winter, about nine months before he would murder three U.S. Marines. There is a photo of him leaning on the rail in mismatched fatigues. He is drawn, slender, with dark brows and a cowboy mustache. By this time he has seen combat. He has been a mercenary guarding trucks in Musa Qala and a policeman in Girishk, and now he is training to soldier in the Afghan National Army.
It is cold on that balcony but a good place to smoke one of the cheap Pine cigarettes...