The captain was wearing sunglasses and Leo stared at his own distorted reflection in the lens.

—These villages seem serene and quaint, your typical primitive backwater with cow-shit houses and kids chasing goats, pots and pans and bags of rice. This was a terrorist haven. The brothers who came from here were armed with enough explosives to create this kind of destruction, or worse. They were going to bring down an entire dam. Do you know how many people would’ve died, not only soldiers but civilians too? What did this? The villagers who lived here did this. They brought this upon themselves. Our helicopters came under heavy fire.

Leo didn’t know the classified technical specifications of the Hind attack helicopters, but they were heavily armoured: their blades were titanium tipped. Rifle and machine-gun fire wouldn’t be enough to bring them down.

—How heavy was the fire?

The captain kicked at the ground.

—The situation we are here to address is not an investigation into whether our pilots made the wrong decision. Fuel-air bombs were an appropriate choice of weapon, in my view. We’re here to convince these people that there are better and smarter options than fighting us – that fighting us is going to bring misery to millions.

Picking up on an earlier term, Leo asked, the jargon meaning nothing to him:

—Fuel-air bombs?

He’d never heard of them before. The captain briefly glanced at Nara. Even though she’d spied on Leo, even though she’d reported on the deserters, she was still foreign and the captain would only trust her so far. He spoke softly, quickly, making sure she couldn’t follow his Russian:

—They produce blasts of a longer duration, a pressure wave that is much harder to survive. They suck up the oxygen from the surrounding air. Normal explosives contain a large percentage of oxidizer. Thermobaric weapons are mostly fuel.

Listening to the captain, Leo understood why the military planners were so sure they would win this war. They had weapons of such ingenuity that anything other than a victory was illogical. He remarked:

—To ensure no one survives?

—They’re designed for cave networks. If the bomb can’t destroy the entire cave, it can at least suck out the air, turning a base that is safe structurally into a death trap.

Leo added:

—And villages?

Leo didn’t expect an explanation, the captain was already walking away, but he belatedly understood their use. They were weapons that would ensure everyone died, reducing the visible scars of the attack without compromising the lethal intent.

Nara crouched down. There was a steel cooking pot, turned black, but otherwise undamaged. She rubbed a small patch of it clean.