After bombings in Kabul these days, new concrete blast walls go up, taller than the ones before. Streets leading to VIP homes are blocked to traffic. To drive in certain neighborhoods is to delve into a frustrating game of maze navigation, with surprise barricades popping up overnight.

In a grim reflection of life in the Afghan capital, the small blast-wall factories lined up on the city's outskirts are among the few businesses that have managed to stay basically viable despite the reeling economy. Mixers churn out concrete, and laborers cast it in wooden molds. Trucks ferry the T-shaped walls to spots around the city, one of the most barricaded in the world.

這段時日喀布爾每當發生爆炸案之後，便會有新的混凝土防爆牆豎起，而且比先前的更高。通往大人物宅邸的街道遭到封鎖，不得通行。在某些街區開車有如陷入一場令人沮喪的闖迷宮遊戲，意想不到的路障在一夜之間就全冒了出來。

林立於市郊的小型防爆牆工廠，是在經濟疲敝之下大抵還能存活的少數行業之一，這也反映出阿富汗首都生活的嚴酷。攪拌機吐出混凝土，工人把它倒入木製模具，之後卡車再將這些T型牆運送到這個全球路障最多的城市的各個地點。

"It is our sad reality: After a suicide bombing, we get more work," said Noor ul Haq, who has been managing one such small business for six years.

After a huge truck bombing near an elite Afghan security agency last month, Haq had 15 potential customers visit in one week. The attack was so large that it shattered windows across wide stretches of the city and flung body parts into the Kabul River, which was raging after days of rain.

"The week before the bombing, we had no customers," he said.

經營這麼個小生意已經六年的努爾．哈克說：「這是我們可悲的現實：每當自殺炸彈爆炸過後，我們就接到更多生意。」

一個阿富汗精銳安全機構附近上個月發生巨大卡車爆炸事件後，一周之內哈克就有15個潛在客人上門。那次攻擊威力大到震碎了市內廣大範圍內的所有窗玻璃，並將死者屍塊震進了連日下雨後水流相當湍急的喀布爾河。

他說：「爆炸發生前的一星期裡，我們一個客人也沒有。」

Like most of the "complex attacks" in Kabul — which involve bombing a compound and then sending in fighters — last month's bombing was the work of the Haqqani network, an arm of the insurgency known for its urban assaults. The Haqqanis' growing integration into the mainstream Taliban, at a time when peace talks have collapsed, has heightened fears of more such attacks — and the blast walls are multiplying.

The dull structures used to be mainly about 11 feet tall, but newer walls are as high as 20 feet, both to repel the force of larger explosions and to block the sightlines of any Taliban snipers.

所謂「複式攻擊」是指先以炸彈爆破建築群，再派戰士攻入。上月的爆炸案和喀布爾大多數複式攻擊案一樣，也是哈卡尼組織所為，而該組織是以城市攻擊聞名的叛亂團體的一支。值此和平談判崩潰之際，哈卡尼日益融入屬主流的神學士組織，已加深會有更多此類攻擊事件發生的恐懼情緒，防爆牆也不斷增多。

防爆牆這個單調的構造物從前大多高約11英尺，較新的牆則高可達20英尺，既以抵禦更大的爆炸，兼可阻擋所有神學士狙擊手的視線。

The blast walls have become such an integral part of Kabul's identity that they blend into the cityscape. Most residents have accepted the narrowing of the roads and roundabouts, the blocking of the views of iconic buildings, as facts of life.

Activists and artists have tried to turn them into canvasses for their messages. One project in particular, ArtLords, is leaving its mark. The logic is simple: You cannot escape the walls, so you may as well use them to remind people about some of the scourges of society, like corruption so entrenched that it seems inescapable.

防爆牆已成為喀布爾身分中不可或缺的一部分，融入了城市景觀。大部分居民對道路變窄，必須繞路，以及觀看標誌性建築的視線遭到阻擋已逆來順受，當成生活中無法更改的現實。

活躍人士與藝術家嘗試將防爆牆變為傳遞訊息的畫布，特別是ArtLords這個計畫正在留下印記。其中的邏輯很簡單：你無法逃避這些牆，何不用它來提醒人們一些社會禍害，像是貪腐問題根深柢固到似乎無法避免。