One Sunday afternoon in March last year, three men in turbans and one in US army gear – with a kefiyah draped over his shoulders – stood before a bulky white building and took part in a ceremony imported to Afghanistan from the west: they cut a ribbon to celebrate the opening of the Rabat boys school in south-east Afghanistan, this impoverished village’s newest and only asset. After the ceremony, members of America’s 27th Engineer Battalion spread out over the school’s stark grounds and handed out notebooks, backpacks and footballs to boys and girls alike.

Nine months later, that celebratory afternoon had become a distant memory. Shortly after it was built with US cash, the school was blown up by the Taliban. Now, on the hillocks just above the village, a succession of Chinook military transport helicopters disgorge heavily armoured US troops. About a hundred American paratroopers “air assault” the dilapidated structure and create a makeshift camp there. Amid broken glass and chunks of roof, a scattering of textbooks on the floors are the only indication that these were once classrooms.