Perhaps the key factor for defense was the distance and inaccessibility of communities. In many valleys, steps were taken to deliberately obscure the paths and routes to the outside world out of concern that enemies would use them to gain access to the vicinity of the villages. Raids for Kafir slaves were a constant concern.

Village women who tended the nearby fields had to work them during the summers when most able-bodied men were off with their animals at distant pastures.

An even more effective factor in defending the communities was for the Kafirs to stage raids deep into the lands of their enemies thereby forcing their enemy to devote time and energy into their defense.

The Nuristani/Kafir villages were also sited on hillsides which were too steep to farm even using the elaborate engineering techniques of terraced fields and elaborate irrigation channels that ran for miles in some cases. Even then, terrain which could be converted to irrigation agriculture was limited.

And another key factor was position villages with respect to sun in the winter months.

And, as to why we build where we do, it’s all driven by logistics and the need for a steady flow of fuel tankers and other heavy trucks to be hauling material to the bases. Efforts to support the base at Kamdesh foundered because the road linking Kamdesh to Barikot was never improved and secured so that the base could be supported by a ground line of communication. That is the same reason that the Nuristan PRT is located at Kalagush which is many kilometers from the provincial center. Kalagush’s only virtue is that it’s accessible by a good, relatively secure road to the outside world. So it’s not surprising that the bases are down by the rivers which is where most decent roads are.