American soldiers at the Shkin firebase in Afghanistan live precariously on the front line, a target for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters who launch frequent strikes from camps in .
We left the Restrepo firebase the usual way: a series of sprints down an exposed trail interspersed with a quick breather behind a hesco barrier something like a six-cubic foot .
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in BBC News There were occasions when I stayed in a place that was hardly 500 yards from a US firebase,Mr Hekmatyar says. "The US helicopters virtually flew over my head and we could hit them with a Kalashnikov rifle. But the Americans were unable to...