This photocopy of an image of Abdul Razaq, the killer of the three Marines, was given to the writer by a Marine in Helmand.
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When the shura breaks up around 11:30 p.m., Captain Haider shakes hands with all the elders on their way out. Asadullah is about to leave too when Captain Haider stops him. He wants to know about some men recently arrested by local police. Is Asadullah aware of these arrests? Asadullah says he is and will follow up. He has been on base for a month and a half and thinks that he and Captain Haider have built a strong relationship, that through the interpreter they are developing a kind of shorthand. He tells Captain Haider, There are no problems. Everything is fine.
Asadullah doesn't notice anything unusual about Abdul Razaq back in their bunk. He says his prayers, and both men are in bed when, around midnight, there is a knock on the door. One of the Marines, locally known as Mr. Hawk, is looking for Asadullah. They go outside to talk.
After a little while, Abdul Razaq gets up too. I don't want to live anymore, he prays, please grant my wish to be martyred and give me the martyrdom. I want to sacrifice my life just for the sake of Allah.
He puts on his uniform and charges his gun. He walks next door. Security is not tight between the U.S. and Afghan sides, and he is inside before a Marine stops him and asks, in English, what he is doing. Abdul Razaq asks where the other Marines are, but across the languages there is no comprehension. Abdul Razaq indicates that he wants to come deeper into the base. The Marine walks toward the Tactical Operations Center (TOC), and Razaq follows him to its plywood door.
The door opens. Inside, Captain Haider and some of his team are working at their laptops. Abdul Razaq can't understand what they are saying except for the word interpreter. He shouts "Allahu akbar" and shoots the Marine he had followed before opening up into the TOC and hitting three more.
Of the four wounded, three will die. Abdul Razaq flees into the high summer crops.
Abdul Razaq's taliban-produced confession video opens with a series of prayers recited over primary-colored lens flares. When he appears, seated in front of a drooping curtain, his low tenor stumbles and jumps. Periodically his eyes dart off camera.
"The first time I join the government," he says, "it was always in my mind that I am mujahid and want to kill the infidels."
Almost no one believes this. An investigating officer at the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's intelligence agency, says Abdul Razaq "had been in touch with the Taliban, but not from the beginning." He thinks they recruited him in Lashkar Gah on his return from the army academy in Kabul. But both Abdul Razaq and the NDS have reasons to lie. For the NDS, it's better Abdul Razaq flipped than deceived everyone from Day One. For Abdul Razaq, long-standing intent burnishes his mujahedin credentials.