Afghanistan photos

[David]

A dust devil whirls past as a soldier from the 1st Company, 4th Rapid Brigade of ISAF Czech contingent based in Tabor, Czech Republic, proceeds to check the targets after completing a shooting exercise at the range in Camp Altimur in Logar province, some 140 km (87 miles) southeast of the capital Kabul, September 25, 2009. (REUTERS/Nikola Solic)




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A CH-53 helicopter releases flares after being shot at from the ground while flying over Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, on September 18, 2009. (DAVID FURST/AFP/Getty Images) #




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In this photo taken Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009, Pfc. Kendall Travis takes a break during a patrol in Zerok district, East Paktika province in Afghanistan. Travis is from Spartanburg, S.C., a soldier from the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), based at Fort Richardson, Alaska. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) #




4
One of the six lakes that make up Band-E-Amir National Park is seen September 6, 2009 in Band-E-Amir, Afghanistan. Located in the province of the Bamiyan Buddhas, in central Afghanistan, the park was declared Afghanistan's first National Park on April 22, 2009. Its designation as a National Park will allow Afghanistan to apply for international recognition of Band-e-Amir as a UNESCO World Heritage site. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #




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An Afghan laborer at a brick factory in Jalalabad, looks on at his work site on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) #




6
A Special Forces soldier observes as an Afghan National Police officer aims his assault-rifle during training in the village of Nili, Afghanistan on Sept. 18, 2009. The team is among only a few U.S. troops to live among Afghans, but there will likely be more. The hope is to push Special Forces teams into villages throughout Afghanistan, giving them the mission of rebuilding and training Afghan police and soldiers rather than hunting insurgents. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) #




7
A damaged armored vehicle from the U.S. Army's Alpha Company, 3rd brigade of 10th Mountain Division based in Fort Drum, New York. The damage came from an IED laid by the Taliban along the road near the village of Eber in Logar province September 26, 2009. No one was injured in the incident. (REUTERS/Nikola Solic) #




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An Afghan man watches heavy traffic near a marketplace, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) #




9
Afghan policemen (background) help a wounded man at the site of a suicide bomb attack at the main gate of a NATO military airport in Kabul on September 8, 2009. A suicide bomber exploded a car outside Kabul's military airport September 8, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding 10 people including four foreign soldiers, officials said. (Pajhwok Photo Service/AFP/Getty Images) #




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Supporters of opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah listen to a speech in a tent during a gathering held in his support in Kabul September 27, 2009. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




11
Reza holds his daughter Hadisha inside their cave dwelling September 7, 2009 in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Many of the impoverished families living in the caves say they are too poor to live anywhere else even though the government insists that they are doing damage to the area, near the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, a delicate archaeological site. All are refugees who fled areas of fighting during the Taliban era, and have now returned from the other parts of Afghanistan. The cave dwellers are all Hazara, who are religiously and ethnically distinct and survivors of intense persecution by the Taliban. (Photo Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #




12
An Afghan deminer uses a metal detector to search for ordinance on top the archaelogical site of Shahr-i-Gholghola September 2 , 2009 in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Afghan Technical Concultants (ATC) and the UN Mine Action center are working together to clear the ancient preserved ruins in the Bamiyan area, the project started on May 5th and will finish on October 15. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #




13
Maj. Gen. William Freeman hands a flag to Shelby Summers, daughter of Army Sgt. 1st Class Severin West Summers III, of Bentonia, Mississippi, at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, Aug. 31, 2009 in Arlington, Virginia. Summers was killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 2, 2009. From left, Freeman, Tammy Summers, wife of Severin West Summers III, and Shelby Summers. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) #




14
The campaign convoy of parliament candidate Sayed Mahmood Gailan departs September 15, 2005 from the remote town of Desi, Afghanistan. Gailani, who campaigned today in a remote and dangerous area of Ghazni Province heavily infiltrated by Taliban fighters, is one of thousands of candidates running in Afghanistan's first ever parliamentary election. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




15
Aftab, an Afghan girl, waits to receive vaccination for polio in a UNICEF-organised countrywide campaign, in the central province of Ghor September 13, 2009. Once at the heart of the medieval Ghorid empire stretching between present-day Iran and South Asia, Ghor is now an obscure place, with no proper roads, hospitals and schools. (REUTERS/Maria Golovnina) #




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This Sept. 8, 2009 photo shows a soldier with the 6th Kandak Commandos of the Afghan National Army firing a machine gun during night training at their training base close to Rish Khoor village near Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) #






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Running past wreckage and body parts, Afghan policemen secure the scene of a blast in Kabul September 17, 2009. A suicide bomber hit a NATO military vehicle on a road between the U.S. embassy and the main airport in the centre of the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




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An Afghan walks through a river outside Feyzabad, east of Kunduz, Afghanistan, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #




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A handout image obtained on September 10, 2009, from Britain's Ministry of Defence shows a female Afghan National Police (ANP) officer receiving weapons training on a Sig Sauer 9 mm pistol. The first thirteen female ANP recruits will soon be joining their male counterparts. (HANDOUT/AFP/Getty Images) #




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Two AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters land in central Afghanistan Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) #




21
An Afghan man flies a kite during a peace march to Baba Mountain in Bamyan province on September 25, 2009. Some 100 Afghan and foreign citizens paticipated in a "Peace March" from the village of Ali Beg to Lake Boghaso at Baba Moutain in Bamyan province. (MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images) #




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A German ISAF soldier gets ready to join a patrol in Yaftal e Sofla, in the mountainous region of Feyzabad, east of Kunduz, Afghanistan, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #




23
A Canadian army medic examines one of eight children brought to a forward operating base after they fell gravely ill from eating explosive powder at a home in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province September 12, 2009. Roadside bombs made from homemade explosives are the leading killers of foreign troops in Afghanistan. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #




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Afghan men play soccer in front of the bombed out old royal palace, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. The palace was designed by a French architect and originally built in 1923 by King Amanullah. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) #




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Afghan children enjoy an evening at an amusement park, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) #




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Pfc. Shiquinn Bell from Holly Hill, S.C., a member of the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), based at Fort Richardson, Alaska, plays his guitar at a base in Zerok District, East Paktika province in Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) #




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A German soldier sits next to candles lit to celebrate his 34th birthday, during a long term patrol in Yaftal e Sofla, in the mountainous region of Feyzabad, east of Kunduz, Afghanistan, early Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #




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Four-year-old Ella Roberts cuddles the hand of her father Lance Corporal Steven Roberts as he and comrades of 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh parade through Chester to say farewell to the city before deploying on operations to Afghanistan on September 25, 2009 in Chester, England. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) #




29
Simome, son of Sergent Major Roberto Valente, held by his mother, watches the arrival of the coffins of his father and the other five Italian soldiers of the ISAF who died in a suicide attack on an Italian military convoy in Kabul on Thursday Sept. 17 at Ciampino military airport, near Rome, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images) #




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The coffins of the six Italian troopers killed in an attack on an Italian military convoy in Kabul on Thursday Sept. 17 arrive for the state funerals in St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica, in Rome, Monday, Sept. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) #




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An Afghan villager stares at a US Marine from 2/3 Fox company patrolling in Farah Province, southern Afghanistan, on September 23, 2009. (DAVID FURST/AFP/Getty Images) #




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In this photo taken Monday, Sept. 21, 2009, an Afghan national police officer searches a house during a search mission in Naka, East Paktika province in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) #




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U.S. Army Pfc. Zach Roberts, 20, from Frostproof, Fla., displays tattoos reading "Death" and "Life" while standing in formation with the 118th Military Police Co. at their combat outpost in the Jalrez Valley in Afghanistan's Wardak Province on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) #




34
Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), based at Fort Richardson, Alaska, fire a 120mm mortar during a fire mission at the combat outpost Zerok in East Paktika province in Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) #




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US Marines from 2/3 Fox company watch as parachutes loaded equipments to resupply their base in Farah Province, southern Afghanistan, on September 23, 2009. (DAVID FURST/AFP/Getty Images) #




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A Canadian soldier shaves using the wing mirror of an armoured vehicle in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province, September 26, 2009. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #




37
Fawad Rahmani, 11, prays inside his home while his brand new pair of braces fitted from the ICRC Orthopedic clinic lay on the ground beside him on September 25, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Fawad has had polio since he was two years old. Afghanistan is still fighting to eradicate polio - one of the few countries still dealing with the disease. Earlier this month UNICEF launched an immunization campaign targeting 1.2 million children with an aim is to immunize every child under five. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #




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Afghans feed pigeons at the Shrine of Hazrat Ali in Mazar-i-Sharif, northern Afghanistan, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Farzana Wahidy) #




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An Afghan boy holds a toy gun as he enjoys a ride with others on a merry-go-round to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr festival, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009. Eid al-Fitr festival marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #




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A Canadian soldier works out using a makeshift weight made from barbed wire and rods, in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province, September 23, 2009. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #




41
Pfc. Richard Long, (on bench), from Indian Land, South Carolina, works out, joined by Pfc. Timothy Humphreys from Sallisaw, Oklahoma, part of the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), based at Fort Richardson, Alaska. The two are seen reflected in a Humvee mirror mounted to a wall decorated with pictures from a Hooters calendar, in Paktika province in Afghanistan, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) #




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The sun appears near the horizon, seen from a U.S. Marine machine gun post for Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marines, inside a small base known as the Western OP, in Nawa district, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #




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Pashtun tribal elder Khaki Jan Zadran, 55, shows his identity card from when he was in the Mujahedeen movement against Soviet forces in the 1980s, during an interview with The Associated Press, in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sept. 11, 2009. Zadran said that he hasn't been able to return to his village in Afghanistan's Paktia province after Taliban-allied gunmen threatened him for his work on the Provincial Council. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup) #

[David]

An Afghan woman displays her finger marked with indelible ink after casting her vote at a polling station in Kabul on August 20, 2009. Afghans voted to elect a president for just the second time in their war-torn history as a massive security clampdown swung into action to prevent threatened Taliban attacks derailing the ballot. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)




2
An Afghan man carries ballot boxes as he guides his donkey loaded with election supplies in the rugged mountains of the Panjshir valley on August 19, 2009. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) #




3
Afghan President Hamid Karzai holds up his ink-stained finger as he gestures during a news conference on election day in Kabul August 20, 2009. Millions of Afghans went to the polls on Thursday, defying Taliban threats of violence and sporadic attacks across the country to choose a president in the midst of a worsening war. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




4
Afghan presidential candidate and former foreign minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah addresses his supporters, during a campaign stop in his key supporting province of Takhar, on August 16, 2009 in Taloqan, Afghanistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) #




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Sealed ballot boxes are seen piled up at an election commission office in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) #




6
An Afghan election worker counts votes at a polling station in Kabul on August 21, 2009. Faced with a sea of unknown faces, many Afghans confessed they saw little option but to pick the pretty girl, the TV star or the good Muslim in a turban when voting for provincial councillors. About 3,400 people ranging from elderly tribal chiefs to young students - almost a tenth of them women - ran for provincial council seats in elections held simultaneously with presidential polls on August 20. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) #




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An Afghan man watches as election workers count votes at a polling station in Kabul on August 21, 2009. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) #




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Supporters of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah film his speech with mobile phones at a rally in Kokcha, located in Afghanistan's northern Takhar province August 16, 2009. (REUTERS/Jonathon Burch) #




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An Afghan girl watches a speech from Afghan presidential candidate and current President Hamid Karzai on television during the presidential candidates' live debate in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Farzana Wahidy) #




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Afghan women and a child walk past a wall with images of presidential and provincial council candidates in Kabul August 18, 2009.(REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




11
A young child looks through a gate as an American Marine keeps watch whilst on patrol in Khan Neshin, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, the furthest south of any coalition troops and near the border of Pakistan Tuesday Aug. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Lewis Whyld/PA Wire) #




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A U.S. soldier from the 3-71 Cavalry fires his weapon during a gun-battle with Taliban fighters in the village of Bargematal, Nuristan province, August 25, 2009. (REUTERS/Oleg Popov) #




13
Spc. Ken Dykes, 19, of Greenville, Tennessee, holds the hand of another soldier as they both lie wounded side by side in a medivac helicopter after their armored vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in the Tangi Valley of Afghanistan's Wardak Province on Aug. 19, 2009. The soldiers serve in the Army's Apache Company 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y. One soldier, Spc. Justin R. Pellerin, 21, of Boscawen, N.H. (not pictured) was killed in the attack [ed. note, Pellerin, of Bravo company, was killed in a different attack in the Nerkh District] (incident also seen in this photograph from earlier this week). (AP Photo/David Goldman) #




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A U.S. soldier of 2-12 Infantry 4BCT-4ID Task Force Mountain Warrior rests during a night operation near Michigan camp, at the Pesh valley of Kunar Province, August 17, 2009. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria) #




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Afghan National Army soldiers sit around drinking tea after breaking their daily Ramadan fast after sunset in the village of Dahaneh, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) #




16
Afghan men are pictured on the site of a bomb blast in Kandahar city on August 25, 2009. A massive bomb ripped through the downtown area of the troubled Afghan city of Kandahar, killing up to 36 people and wounding dozens near hotels and government offices, officials said. The truck bomb ripped through 10 residential buildings, trapping casualties under the rubble as rescue workers frantically tried to dig them out of the debris under the cover of darkness, officials said. (HAMED ZALMY/AFP/Getty Images) #




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A man holds a charred Kabul car license plate at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, August 18, 2009. Seven people were killed and 52 wounded by a suicide car bomber who rammed his car into a convoy of Western troops in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, said Farid Raeed an official at the public health ministry. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson) #




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A man wounded in a suicide car attack leaves the site of the blast in Kabul on August 18, 2009. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) #




19
A crane lifts the bodies of two cows near the scene of Tuesday's car bomb explosions, to be butchered and distributed to those suffering from the explosions in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan) #




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Afghan children play soccer at sunset in Kabul on August 19, 2009 on the eve of Presidential elections. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) #




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An Afghan boy wears a hat showing candidate and president Hamid Karzai in Kabul, Friday, Aug. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer) #




22
A French soldier wears a visor and face cover to protect himself from the dust as he patrols in Deh Rawod, in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan on August 17, 2009. (PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images) #




23
U.S. Marine Cpl. Russell pays his respects to Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard during a memorial service at a forward operating base with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment, 2nd MEB, 3rd MEF, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, in Now Zad in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Bernard was mortally wounded during a Taliban ambush on Aug. 14. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) #




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An Afghan stands in front of a poster of President Hamid Karzai on August 27, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #




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Afghan men carry voting materials at a polling station in Jamee Mosque in Herat, western Afghanistan August 19, 2009. (REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi) #




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Taliban fighters pose with their weapons while detaining a man for campaigning for presidential candidate Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan on August 19, 2009. (REUTERS/Stringer) #






27
Afghan police carry the bodies of three suspected insurgents in the back of a truck after they were killed in a gunfight in Kabul, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009. Gunfire and explosions reverberated through the heart of the Afghan capital Wednesday on the eve of the presidential election after three militants with AK-47s rifles and hand grenades overran a bank. Police stormed the building and killed the three insurgents, officials said. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer) #




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A boy walks inside his home at a camp for internally displaced people from Helmand province, on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) #




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Men cast their ballots at a polling station in Kabul, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) #




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Abdul Hamid rests after carrying polling materials inside the Friday Mosque in Herat, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) #




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Afghan women wait in line to vote at a polling station on August 20, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #




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A woman walks up to a voting booth at a polling station in Herat, Afghanistan on August 20, 2009. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images) #




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A worker rests on top of ballot boxes at a warehouse of the Independent Election Commission center (IEC) on August 24, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #




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Afghan election employees wait for voters at a deserted polling station in Kabul on August 20, 2009. Voter turnout in a number of regions was very low, blamed largely on the lack of security and Taliban threats. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) #




35
Supporters of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah carry balloons at a campaign rally at Kabul's National Stadium, Monday, Aug. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) #




36
A girl holds a puppy as the sun sets over Kabul's impoverished Teppe Maranjan neighborhood, Monday, Aug. 24, 2009 in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) #




37
Afghan men walk among ruins of brick factories on the outskirts of Kabul August 16, 2009. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN SOCIETY) #




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An Afghani police officer rests his weapon on a ballot at a polling station in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh) #




39
Election workers tally up the presidential election returns at the National Tally Center of the Independence Election Commission in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq) #




40
A young boy flies a kite in the old part of the city of Herat, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009. Afghans will head to the polls on Aug. 20 to elect the new president. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das) #

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Photographing Afghanistan

As a sort of epilogue to the photos above, I'd like to share with you three images from the past few weeks depicting what it really means to be a photographer in Afghanistan these days.



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AP photographer Emilio Morenatti takes pictures as he is carried on a stretcher out of the University of Maryland Medical Center's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center to be transferred to the Kernan Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Hospital in Baltimore, Tuesday Aug. 25, 2009. Morenatti, whose left foot was amputated after he was injured by a bomb blast in Afghanistan, was transferred Tuesday to a rehabilitation hospital in Baltimore, where he will be fitted for a prosthesis. (AP Photo/Enric Marti) #




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An Afghan National Policeman threatenens photographers with his weapon as they attempt to secure the site of a bank where gunmen attacked on August 19, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #




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(And, from another angle An Afghan policeman aims his weapon at photojournalists Paula Bronstein and Kevin Frayer as he prevents them from approaching the area where three gunmen stormed a bank in Kabul on August 19, 2009. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) #

[David]

Members of the security detail for Karl Eikenberry, US Ambassador to Afghanistan, stand in front of a U.S. army Chinook helicopter as it lands near a newly constructed bridge south of Tarin Kot, in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan July 9, 2009. (REUTERS/Tim Wimborne)




2
An aerial view shows a neighborhood on the outskirts of Kandahar city June 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva) #




3
Afghan women visit a cemetery in Kabul June 11, 2009. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




4
British army Corporal Sandra Jordan, exercises at Camp Bastion, Britain's largest base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, at sundown, Wednesday June 3, 2009. Jordan is a ward nurse at the camp hospital, where British and coalition force troops, Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police, as well as civilians and enemy casualties are treated. (AP Photo/Jon Bevan, Ministry of Defence) #




5
An Afghan woman works on a form of embroidery called Khamak at Kandahar Treasure facilities in Kandahar city, June 14, 2009. Kandahar Treasure, a non-profit project of the Afghans for Civil Society which started out in 2003, employs women artisans from the Kandahar area in order to develop more economic opportunities. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva) #




6
Romanian and U.S. military personnel, bottom right, share a table and check their email as they relax in a recreational and retail area called The Boardwalk Monday, June 29, 2009, at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) #




7
Afghans stand around the crater caused by a bomb blast in Mohammad Agha district on the main road from Kabul to Logar province, Afghanistan, Thursday, July 9, 2009. The blast killed 25 people including 13 primary school students, destroying shops and scattering pieces of the vehicle that carried the explosives over a huge area, police said. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq) #




8
An iPod music player is attached to the tactical vest of a U.S. soldier of 3rd Platoon from the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division as he drives to the site of a roadside bomb explosion in the mountains of Wardak Province in Afghanistan July 11, 2009. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov) #




9
A French army soldier of the 8th Artillery Regiment takes part in a joint patrol with U.S and Afghan troops in a village in Kharuti, in the mountains of Wardak Province in Afghanistan July 16, 2009. Picture taken through a night vision device. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov) #




10
A U.S Marine missile from the 2nd MEB strikes a Taliban position inside a mud walled compound near Now Zad in Afghanistan's Helmand province Saturday June 20, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




11
U.S Marines from the 2nd MEB, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines battle Taliban fighters inside a mud walled compound near Now Zad in Afghanistan's Helmand province Saturday June 20, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




12
U.S Marine Daniel Hinther of Helena, Montana, with the 2nd MEB, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines throws a hand grenade during close quarter battle with Taliban fighters inside a mud walled compound near Now Zad in Afghanistan's Helmand province Saturday June 20, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




13
U.S Marine John Daly, right, of Collingdale, Pennsylvania, with the 2nd MEB, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines is helped by a fellow Marine after injuring his ankle in a fall when Taliban fighters opened fire on him and his squad during a gun battle near Now Zad in Afghanistan's Helmand province Saturday June 20, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




14
A U.S. army gunner flies in a Chinook helicopter over Kandahar city, June 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva) #




15
DJ Ashiqullah works at the Garmsir radio station in Helmand province July 7, 2009. The DJs of Radio Garmsir in Afghanistan's lower Helmand River valley knew their station had touched a nerve when the letters started pouring in. First a few, then more, and pretty soon 20 to 30 letters per day, hand delivered to a box outside the NATO base where they broadcast deep into Taliban territory from a desk in a tiny bunker. The letters showed what listeners are aching to hear most is music, banned as un-Islamic by the Taliban. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




16
In this photograph taken on June 8, 2009, Taliban fighters sit on the ground in a prison after their arrest during the joint Operation Tofan, involving the Afghan National Army and NATO forces, in the Balamurghab district of north western Badghis province. (REZA SHIRMOHAMMADI/AFP/Getty Images) #




17
U.S. Marines from the 2nd MEB, 1st Battalion 5th Marines arrive at a compound to sleep for the night in a town in the Nawa district of Afghanistan's Helmand province Monday July 6, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




18
U.S. Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, 1st Battalion 5th Marines temporarily occupy an abandoned mud walled farm compound in the Nawa district of Afghanistan's Helmand province Friday, July 10, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




19
U.S. Marine Sergeant Nathan Harris from Yadkinville, North Carolina (center) with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, RCT 2nd Battalion 8th Marines Echo Co. speaks to an Afghan man through a Marine interpreter (left) after seeing suspicious activity near their base on July 14, 2009 in Mian Poshteh, Afghanistan. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #




20
A U.S. soldier of 2nd Platoon from the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division looks out of an Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) before departing for a night patrol at Combat Operation Outpost (COP) Conlon in the mountains of Wardak Province in Afghanistan in this July 8, 2009 picture. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov) #




21
U.S. Marines from the 2nd MEB, 1st Battalion 5th Marines are illuminated by a fire in which they burned their trash, as they settle in for the night in an abandoned compound in the Nawa district in Afghanistan's Helmand province, Saturday, July 5, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




22
Afghan National police and U.S. Marines make a joint patrol through the town of Golestan in Afghanistan's Farah Province on June 13, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




23
A US Marine of 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade runs to safety moments after an IED blast in Garmsir district of Helmand Province in Afghanistan on July 13, 2009. Two US Marine soldiers were killed when the explosion occured as they tried to clear a route into the Taliban heartland of southern Helmand province. (MANPREET ROMANA/AFP/Getty Images) #




24
Displaced Pashtun women and children gather together for a meeting under a highway bridge near the village of Kafta Khana, Baghlan province of northern Afghanistan, Thursday, July 9, 2009. Hundreds of Pashtuns were forced to leave their original villages by local Tajiks within Baghlan province. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky) #




25
A view of the mountain that once held giant Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 in Bamiyan, central Afghanistan, seen on June 17, 2009. In an attempt to return one small part of the country to normalcy government officials and international donors are promoting tourism to attract visitors to the Bamiyan area. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) #




26
U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Addison Chipoletti from Tampa, Florida of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, RCT 2nd Battalion 8th Marines Echo Co. uses makeshift equipment to work out on July 11, 2009 in Mian Poshteh, Afghanistan. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #




27
In this photo taken on Monday, June 1, 2009, a fellow soldier holds the hand of U.S. Pfc. Anthony Vandegrift, of Mililani, Hawaii, as he tells him the names of three of their comrades that were killed in the attack that injured him at the U.S. hospital in Bagram Air base, north of Kabul, Afghanistan. Vandegrift, of Bravo Company 287, 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, was wounded and three other soldiers died when the vehicle they were driving was hit by a roadside bomb in the Nerkh district of Wardak province. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) #




28
U.S. Marine Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson from Bellplain, Minnesota of the 2nd Marine Exhibitionary Brigade, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines Echo Company shows Afghan police recruits the proper shooting position when firing a weapon during a training session on June 27, 2009 in Delaram, Afghanistan. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #




29
An Afghan woman looks at merchandise at a burqa shop in Herat in western Afghanistan July 2, 2009. Burqa seller Nehmatullah Yusefy's (not in picture) sales at the shop have dropped 50 percent since the Taliban were toppled in 2001 and he says he will soon need to start stocking competing styles of Islamic dress to make up for lost profits. Picture taken July 2, 2009. (REUTERS/ Mohammad Shoiab) #




30
U.S. Marine Albert Rivas from San Juan, Puerto Rico and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade sits outside his tent at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan's Helmand province Tuesday June 9, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




31
U.S Marines from the 2nd MEB, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines walk from their base near Now Zad in Afghanistan's Helmand province on their way to visit the nearby village of Khwaja Jamal to meet with the local population on Monday June 22, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




32
Sixteen-month-old Aubrey Melton reaches for her father, SSG Josh Melton, as she views his body with her mother Larissa before his funeral service on June 27, 2009 in Germantown, Illinois. SSG Melton, who was serving in Afghanistan with the Illinois National Guard, was killed in Kandahar during an IED attack on June 19. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

[David]

An afghan girl stands next to the door of her house as Canadian soldiers patrol the village of Bazaar e Panjwai in Kandahar, May 29, 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva)




2
Band-e-Amir is seen in this undated photo in Bamiyan province of Afghanistan. The cascading collection of deep-blue high-mountain lakes was dedicated as Afghanistan's first provisional national park Thursday June 18, 2009, as the violence-plagued nation took a big first step toward protecting one of its finest natural treasures. (AP Photo) #




3
In this photo taken Monday, June 22, 2009, U.S. Marines from the 2nd MEB, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines stand guard along a wall in the village of Khwaja Jamal near their base near Now Zad in Afghanistan's Helmand province. Three years after its residents fled, the once bustling town of Now Zad is the scene of a stalemate between U.S. Marines and Taliban insurgents. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




4
Taliban fighters train with their weapons in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan July 14, 2009. (REUTERS/Stringer) #




5
Taliban fighters ride on motorbikes in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan July 14, 2009. (REUTERS/Stringer) #




6
An Afghan shepherd herds his sheep down from a hill near Kelagay, 210km (130mi) north of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, June 3, 2003. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky) #




7
An Afghan boy smiles in his shop at Bazaar e Panjwai in Kandahar May 28, 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva) #




8
Afghan National Army soldiers ride in the back of a pickup in the village of Bazaar e Panjwai, in Kandahar May 30, 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva) #




9
A combination of 15 images of Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers posing for portraits at their compound at Panjwai district in Kandahar, June 1 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva) #




10
U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Jarvis Norfleet from the Bronx, New York walks with his weapon on June 26, 2009 in Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #




11
Afghan police officers stand near blood stains following a suicide bomb attack in the city of Khost, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, June 22 2009. A suicide bomber on a motorbike killed six civilians when he drove in front of the city's electric power headquarters and set off explosives. (AP Photo/Nishanuddin Khan) #




12
An Afghan man who sells used vehicle parts, listens to Canadian soldiers on patrol as he is questioned in his shop at Bazaar e Panjwai in Kandahar May 28, 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva) #




13
Afghan men strike a pose during a national bodybuilding competition at a cinema hall in Kabul June 2, 2009. Hundreds of competitors entered the annual competition, organised by Afghanistan's national Olympic organisation, to vie for the title of Mr. Afghanistan. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani) #




14
A girl waves behind a U.S. soldier from 2nd Platoon of the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, during a patrol in Molahel village in the mountains of Wardak Province on July 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov) #




15
A U.S. Marine from 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, RCT 2nd Battalion 8th Marines Echo Co. wears a belt of ammunition around his neck on July 6, 2009 in Mian Poshteh, Afghanistan. The Marines are part of Operation Khanjari, which was launched to combat Taliban fighters using areas in the Southern Helmand Province as resupply routes, and to help the local Afghan population prepare for the upcoming presidential elections. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #




16
An Afghan boy is seen through a bulletproof window of an armored vehicle used by ISAF troops for their daily patrols near Pul-e-Khumri, Baghlan province of Afghanistan, Tuesday, July 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky) #




17
U.S. Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade rest inside a tent at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan's Helmand province Tuesday June 9, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




18
The tattoo of a U.S. Marine from the 2nd MEB, 1st Battalion 5th Marine, is seen through a hole on the back of his uniform shirt, as he stands guard at a compound in the Nawa district of Afghanistan's Helmand province, Wednesday, July 8, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #




19
In this photo taken Tuesday, June 16, 2009, pedal boats are seen anchored at a lake in Band-e-Amir, in the central Afghanistan's province of Bamiyan. The six azure lakes in Band-e-Amir are Afghanistan's first national park. In an attempt to return one small part of the country to normalcy government officials and international donors are promoting tourism to attract visitors to the Bamiyan area. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) #




20
Children view the body of a six-year-old Afghan boy, who was killed when a weapons cache exploded, on the outskirts of Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, June 22, 2009. The explosion killed the boy in a nearby village and wounded 20 others, police said. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) #




21
A US Airforce C-17 plane drops food and water at Camp Dwyer in Helmand Province in Afghanistan on June 29, 2009. (MANPREET ROMANA/AFP/Getty Images) #




22
A U.S. marine from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade looks through his binoculars in Khan Neshin district of Helmand province July 8, 2009. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




23
In this photo taken Thursday, June 11, 2009, Lt. Michelle Smith, of Boise, Idaho, holds hands with 8-year-old Razia at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, Afghanistan. Razia was evacuated to the hospital in May after she was severely burned when a white phosphorus round hit her home in the Tagab Valley, killing two of her sisters during fighting between French troops and Taliban militants. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) #




24
A worker pressure washes parts on a U.S. CH-47 Chinook helicopter on June 25, 2009 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The helicopter is part of the 3rd Battalion of the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade which is providing air support for troops fighting Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #




25
A wounded Afghan translator working for the U.S. military lays on a stretcher as he arrives for treatment on a U.S. military helicopter to the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on June 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) #




26
Sgt. Al Smoot, of Harold, California, gives CPR to an injured U.S. soldier in the emergency room of the U.S. military hospital at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on June 7,2009. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) #




27
A de-miner of the Halo Trust, a British charity that specialize in the removal of land mines, looks at colleagues searching for mines in Bagram, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on June 10, 2009. Officials and experts fear that increased fighting and and a drop in international funding could prevent Afghanistan from meeting the goal of clear the country of mines by 2013. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan) #




28
Rescuers float down a river on innertubes as they search for survivors of two sunken boats, in Lal Pur district of Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, July 1, 2009. Several Afghans were killed when two boats sank while attempting to transfer groups of people from one side of the river to the other, police officials said. Over 10 people were rescued and approximately a dozen remain missing. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) #




29
An Afghan National army soldier keeps watch as a U.S. marine helicopter flies overhead in Khan Neshin district of Helmand province July 8, 2009. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




30
The coffin of Rifleman Daniel Simpson is carried from an aircraft to a hearse during a repatriation ceremony at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, southern England July 14, 2009. The bodies of eight soldiers killed during the bloodiest 24-hours for British forces since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 were flown back home on Tuesday. (REUTERS/Ministry of Defence/Crown Copyright/Adrian Harlen) #

[David]

31
The cortege of hearses carrying the bodies of eight British soldiers killed in a single 24-hour period in Afghanistan pass mourners lining the street on Tuesday July 14, 2009 in Wootton Bassett, England. (AP Photo/Simon Dawson) #




32
U.S. Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, 1st Battalion 5th Marines board helicopters at Camp Leatherneck for a night air assault in Afghanistan's Helmand province Thursday July 2, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

[David]

An Afghan village seen from above, amidst fields of opium poppy and wheat in Farah Province, Afghanistan on March 17, 2009. U.S. Marines, who expanded into the area last November, are soon to be joined by thousands more American troops as part of an additional 17,000 U.S. forces being sent to the war. (John Moore/Getty Images)




2
Canadian soldier Pte Chris Kezar from November Company 7th platoon of the NATO-led coalition rests after heavy fighting against insurgents in the Taliban stronghold of Zhari district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, March 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) #




3
U.S. Army soldiers with the 1-6 Field Artillery division patrol an area where there has been reported Taliban presence February 18, 2009 in Gandalabog, Afghanistan. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #




4
A boy from a small shepherd community watches his herd of goats February 27, 2009 in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #




5
U.S. Marine Sgt. Nicholas Bender launches a Raven surveillance drone from Marine base perimeter on March 21, 2009 near the remote village of Baqwa, Afghanistan. Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment use the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to get real time intelligence on Taliban movements. The Marines are operating in Farah Province of southwest Afghanistan and are seeing a spike in Taliban attacks against American forces with the onset of the spring "fighting season." (John Moore/Getty Images) #




6
A burqa-clad Afghan woman walks in an old bazaar in Kabul March 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




7
A U.S. Air Force C-17 flying overhead drops parachutes of military supplies - which blew off course, landing on an opium poppy field on March 22, 2009 next to a U.S. Marine base in remote Qalanderabad in southwest Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




8
Opium farmer Haji Abdul Khan shows off damaged poppies to U.S. Marines and their military interpreter on March 22, 2009 near remote Qalanderabad in southwest Afghanistan. The opium poppy field was damaged when a U.S. Air Force airdrop of supplies blew off target, landing on some of Khan's crops and crushing them. The Marines assured Khan they would pay him for his damaged poppy crop in compensation for the accident. The Taliban often extorts a percentage of the profits from the farmers' harvest to fund attacks on American forces, according to the military. U.S. Marines, however, have no mandate to destroy poppy crops and, in fact, count on farmers to supply intelligence on Taliban activities. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




9
An Afghan miner works inside the Karkar coal mine in Pul-i-Kumri, about 170km north of Kabul, March 7, 2009. Karkar mine, which hires 280 workers, produces about 100 tons of coal a day. The salary for a miner ranges from $70 to $110 per month. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




10
A man is questioned by the U.S. Army in a remote valley while searching for Taliban militants who fired rockets at an Army base earlier in the evening February 18, 2009 in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #






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11
The body of a suspected Taliban insurgent lies on the back of a police truck after he was killed in a battle outside Ghazni March 26, 2009. Four Taliban insurgents were killed, and seven policemen and two civilians were wounded during a battle just outside Ghazni city, some 200km (125 miles) southwest of Kabul, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. (REUTERS/Shir Ahmad) #




12
A U.S. counter-intelligence Marine and his translator meet with local Afghan villagers on March 23, 2009 in Kirta, in remote southwest Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




13
Sgt. Darin Hendricks with the U.S. Army 1-6 Field Artillery division looks into a small cave while searching for a Taliban rocket launching site in the vicinity of the remote village of Main February 19, 2009 in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #




14
Mohammed Amin, an Afghan boy, waits to sell balloons in a field in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Feb. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) #







16
A U.S. Marine and an Afghan national policeman pause while on a joint patrol March 26, 2009 near Bakwa in southwestern Afghanistan. Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment patrol daily in the area, often with Afghan police. Local opium poppy and wheat farmers say the presence of the Marines has improved security in the region, formerly controlled by the Taliban, although Taliban insurgents continue to creep into the area at night to plant IEDs on the road. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




17
A U.S. Marine M-4 rifle rests on sandbags at an observation post on March 30, 2009 in Now Zad in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. Marines from Lima Company of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment there overlook the Taliban frontline. Unlike in many other areas of Afghanistan, where American forces are engaged primarily in counterinsurgency warfare, in Now Zad, both Taliban and American forces hold territory and can see each other across their linear frontline positions. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




18
Former Taliban militants hold their heavy and light weapons during a ceremony to hand over them to the Afghan government in the city of Herat province west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, March 10, 2009. Around 40 Taliban militants from Herat province handed their weapons to the Afghan government as part of a peace-reconciliation program. (AP Photo/Fraidoon Pooyaa) #




19
Men work at Taqcha Khana salt mine in Namak Aab district of Takhar province northeast of Kabul March 10, 2009. The mine, from which salt is excavated with basic tools and transported by donkeys, produces more than 23,000 tons of salt per year. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




20
A soldier from the 2nd Gurkha Regiment of the British army cleans his weapon on Patrol Base Woqab in Musa Qala, Helmand province March 27, 2009. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani) #




21
A U.S. Marine watches as lightning flashes on the horizon during a search operation for Taliban on March 25, 2009 near the village of Bakwa in remote southwestern Afghanistan. Marines from India Company of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment were searching for insurgents after receiving information that a group of armed men were approaching their base through a hidden ravine. No one was found however. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




22
The casket of U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Geary is carried from a military airplane during a ceremony at Griffiss International Airport, Thursday, March 26, 2009 in Rome, New York as family members, (l-r), cousin Dawn Roux, father Michael Geary, and mother Aggie Geary embrace. The 22-year-old was killed a week earlier when a bomb struck his Humvee in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Observer-Dispatch, Nicole L. Cvetnic) #




23
Veteran soldiers salute through the window of a hearse as the funeral cortege carrying the coffins of British soldiers Corporal Dean John, Corporal Graeme Stiff and Lance Corporal Chris Harkett passes through Wootton Bassett, England, following their return to British soil from Aghanistan Saturday, March 21, 2009. Hundreds of people lined the street as the hearses passed carrying the Union Flag-draped coffins of Royal Engineers Corporal Dean John and Corporal Graeme Stiff, both attached to the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, and Lance Corporal Chris Harkett, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, who were killed in Afghanistan. (AP Photo / Dominic Lipinski) #




24
Canadian soldiers carry the coffins of their compatriots at the airfield of the Canadian Joint Task Force Afghanistan in Kandahar March 21, 2009. Roadside bombs killed four Canadian soldiers as well as a local interpreter in Afghanistan on Friday, Canadian Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance said. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) #




25
Family and friends of Trooper Jack Bouthillier, of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, watch his remains being carried to a waiting hearse during a repatriation ceremony at the Canadian Forces Base in Trenton, Ontario, Canada on Monday, March 23, 2009 for four soldiers killed March 20, 2009 in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Peter Redman) #




26
Army Lt. Gen. David Huntoon, Jr., kneels as he presents an American flag to Nicole Bunting, the widow of Army Capt. Brian M. Bunting, 29, of Potomac, Md., Monday, March 16, 2009, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Bunting, a member of the Individual Ready Reserve, assigned to the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Syracuse, N.Y., died Feb. 24 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari) #




27
A U.S. Marine CH-53 transport helicopter flies over the rugged terrain of Farah province March 17, 2009 in southwestern Afghanistan. The Marines, who expanded into the area last November, are soon to be joined by thousands more American troops as part of an additional 17,000 U.S. forces being sent to the war. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




28
Canadian soldiers from the NATO-led coalition check a dry river in the Taliban stronghold of Arghandab district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, March 12, 2009. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) #




29
Canadian door gunners from the NATO-led coalition force take position on a CH-146 Griffon helicopter as they fly over a neighbourhood in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, March 27, 2009. Helicopters are a prime asset to move NATO-led coalition troops and supplies in the war-plagued country because convoys by road are often blown up by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) #




30
A Canadian soldier door gunner from NATO-led coalition opens fire with a machine gun from a CH-146 Griffon helicopter as it flies over neighbourhood in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, March 27, 2009. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) #




31
Nasim, a heroin addict for the last 5 years stands inside the abandoned Russian Cultural center used as the heroin gathering point in the capital city February 08, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Heroin addicts are on the increase in Kabul as the numbers of unemployed increase and the drug continues to be readily available and extremely cheap at only 50 afghany per hit or $1 USD. Afghanistan accounts for more than 90 per cent of the world's heroin supply. Its annual opium harvest is worth up to $3 billion, or almost half the country's official gross domestic product. Profits from heroin fund the Taliban, along with corrupt Afghan officials who profit from it. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)#




32
An Afghan security officer stands guard as flames rise during a drug burning event on the outskirts of the city in Herat province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 18, 2009. Over 2,000 kilograms of narcotics, composed of heroin, opium and hashish, were burnt along with some bottles of alcoholic drinks. (AP Photo/Fraidoon Pooyaa) #




33
Afghan horsemen play Afghanistan's national sport Buzkashi in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, March 20, 2009. Buzkashi is the national sport of Afghanistan, which literally translated means "goat grabbing." In Buzkashi, a headless carcass is placed in the center of a circle and surrounded by the players of two opposing teams. The object of the game is to get control of the carcass and bring it to the scoring area. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) #




34
An Afghan man waits with his sick child to be treated by French doctors of the 27th BCA (Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins) on February 19, 2009 at the Morales-Frazier Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Nijrab, Kapisa province. (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images) #




35
A British soldier keeps watch while on foot patrol in a poppy field in Musa Qala, Helmand province, Afghanistan on March 28, 2009. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani) #




36
U.S. Marines keep watch as fellow Marines search for Taliban arms caches on March 31, 2009 in the abandoned town of Now Zad in Helmand province Afghanistan. Marines from Lima Company of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment have been fighting Taliban insurgents, whose frontline position is just over a mile away from their base. Military commanders say the civilian population fled during heaving fighting between British troops and Taliban fighters several years ago, leaving a ghost town, now a battleground between the U.S. Marines and Taliban. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




37
A set of security lights illuminate the landscape at Bagram Air Base March 2, 2009 in Bagram, Afghanistan. Following U.S. President Barack Obama's executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Bagram Air Base is slated for a $60 million expansion, nearly doubling the size of the prison at Bagram. Currently the base north of the Afghan capital Kabul holds over 600 prisoners classified as enemy combatants. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #






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38
An Afghan National Policeman keeps watch as the burnt body of a suicide attacker is seen amid the wreckage of a vehicle near the U.S. base in Bagram, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on March 4, 2009. A blast from the explosives in the vehicle was followed seconds later by a suicide bomber on foot who, after running from the vehicle had detonated himself outside the main gate of Bagram air base. Several contractors were injured by the blasts. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #




39
A soldier from Recce Platoon 3rd battalion of the Royal Canadian regiment battle group from the NATO-led coalition shakes the hand of an elderly Afghan man in the Taliban stronghold of Arghandab district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, March 30, 2009. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) #




40
Afghan girls attend school on February 16, 2009 in the village of Sandarwa in eastern Afghanistan. Women's education has been severely compromised in Afghanistan as a resurgent Taliban has practiced a policy of intimidation of female students. Women, who make up a significant proportion of Afghanistan's population, have been killed, burned and threatened for attending school. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #




41
Afghan boys toss snowballs at each other as a snowstorm hit Kabul for a second straight day closing the airport on February 13, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #




42
Afghan children stand outside their tents living at a crowded refugee camp displaced by the flighting in Helmand February 10, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #




43
U.S. Marines patrol through a sand storm on March 22, 2009 in remote Qalanderabad in southwest Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #

[David]

A 50 caliber machine gun points out towards an Afghan village October 23, 2008 at the U.S. Army combat outpost Dallas in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. OP Dallas is located in the Korengal Valley, site of some of the heaviest combat between American forces and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images)




2
U.S. Army officers fly back to the unit headquarters following a memorial service for Sgt. John Penich October 23, 2008 at the Korengal Outpost in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. Penich, from Beach Park, Illinois, was killed by a mortar round while in combat October 16. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




3
U.S. Army SFC Isaac Migli, 26, walks up a mountainside towards an American outpost in the Korengal Valley October 24, 2008 in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




4
An American soldier leaves combat outpost Dallas October 23, 2008 in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




5
Artillerymen await coordinates before firing a 155mm Howitzer on a Taliban position October 22, 2008 from Camp Blessing in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. Their unit, Charlie Battery, 3rd Battalion of the 321 Field Artillery, has fired more than 5,900 shells since they deployed to Afghanistan less than a year ago, making it the busiest artillery unit in the U.S. Army, according to to military officers. They most often fire in support of Army infantry units fighting Taliban insurgents in the nearby Korengal Valley. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




6
Artillerymen fire a 155mm Howitzer at a Taliban position October 22, 2008 from Camp Blessing in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




7
U.S. Army SFC Isaac Migli, 26, walks up a mountainside towards an American outpost in the Korengal Valley October 24, 2008 in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




8
A monkey rides on the back of a U.S. Army soldier October 23, 2008 at combat outpost Dallas in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. The monkey went along as a temporary mascot with soldiers who were switching out with comrades who had been in the remote outpost for a week. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




9
U.S. Army SFC. Isaac Migli, 26, walks through a mountaintop outpost in the Korengal Valley October 24, 2008 in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




10
U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Joseph Debose, 26, stands amongst village elders as Afghan and American forces search for weapons October 25, 2008 in the Korengal Valley of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan. Taliban insurgents enjoy widespread public support in the contested valley. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




11
U.S. Army Spc. Clayton Hodge, 22, rests after climbing a mountainside on patrol October 26, 2008 in the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan. He and fellow members of the 1-26 Infantry are involved in some of the heaviest fighting between American forces and Taliban insurgents. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




12
Village elders speak with a U.S. Marine (L), through an interpreter as American and Afghan forces search for weapons October 25, 2008 in the Korengal Valley of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




13
An Afghan elder from the Korengal Valley speaks during a meeting with U.S. and Afghan military officials October 30, 2008 at the Korengal Outpost in eastern Afghanistan. U.S. and Afghan officers tried to convince the elders to accept a new paved road through the Korengal Valley as part of a large American development project. The elders refused the road, however, saying that they would prohibit anyone in their valley from working on the project. The Taliban is very popular in the Korengal Valley and most of the elders have strong family ties to local Taliban fighters, who oppose the American presence in their area. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




14
U.S. Marines scan for Taliban insurgents as Afghan forces search a house for weapons October 25, 2008 in the Korengal Valley of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




15
U.S. Army soldiers take a concealed position as Afghan forces search for weapons October 25, 2008 in the Korengal Valley of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




16
A bullet hole mars the view from an armored Humvee as an Afghan soldier races towards a Chinook transport helicopter for his two-week leave from the Korengal Outpost October 29, 2008 in eastern Afghanistan. Viper Company of the 1-26 Infantry as well as Afghan Army soldiers are based there at the remote base and fight in some of the heaviest combat with Taliban insurgents in all of Afghanistan. The road to the outpost is so dangerous that most soldiers can only arrive and depart by helicopter. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




17
A U.S. Army soldier pays his respects at a memorial service for Sgt. John Penich October 23, 2008 at the Korengal Outpost in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. Penich, from Beach Park, Illinois, was killed by a mortar round while in combat October 16. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




18
A U.S soldier watches a DVD on his laptop at the Korengal Outpost October 29, 2008 in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. Soldiers stationed at the base will be there for at least a year and receive just over two weeks of leave outside of Afghanistan during their deployment. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




19
An Army soldier describes a firefight from the previous day by pointing out military positions on a breakfast burrito at the Korengal Outpost October 29, 2008 in eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




20
A soldier is seen in a mirror as he walks into his barracks at the Korengal Outpost October 29, 2008 in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




21
A U.S. Army Chinook transport helicopter sling loads supplies through the Korengal Valley to resupply soldiers in the remote area on October 27, 2008 in Afghanistan. The military spends huge effort and money to fly in supplies to soldiers from the 1-26 Infantry based in the Korengal Valley - the unpaved road into the area is bad and will become more treacherous with the onset of winter. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




22
A U.S. Army Chinook transport helicopter arrives with soldiers and supplies to the Korengal Outpost on October 27, 2008 in the Korengal Vallay, Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




23
A U.S. Army helicopter gunner, his helmet face painted as a skull, awaits soldiers to board his Chinook transport helicopter October 30, 2008 for transport out of the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan. Taliban insurgents had attacked a nearby U.S. Army outpost, and the Americans responded with machine guns, mortars and helicopter gunships. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) #




24
U.S. Army Spc. Kevin Yeatman, 21, breathes heavily after climbing a mountaintop overlooking a Taliban position October 28, 2008 in the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan. American forces from 2nd Platoon Viper Company of the 1-26 Infantry occupied the strategic mountaintop, and were shot at by Taliban insurgents. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




25
U.S. Army Spc. Kyle Stephenson grimaces from the sound of outgoing shots during a firefight October 28, 2008 in the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan. American forces from 2nd Platoon Viper Company of the 1-26 Infantry had occupied a strategic mountaintop when they were fired upon by Taliban insurgents. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




26
U.S. Army mortars explode on suspected Taliban insurgent positions during a firefight October 28, 2008 in the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




27
U.S. Army Pvt. Jerry Chavez shoots his M-4 rifle on burst during a firefight with Taliban insurgents October 28, 2008 in the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan. American forces from 2nd Platoon Viper Company of the 1-26 Infantry had occupied a strategic mountaintop when they were fired upon by Taliban militia. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




28
A U.S. Army soldier looks to a Taliban position following a firefight October 28, 2008 in the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan. No Americans were injured in the fight and Taliban casualties were unknown. (John Moore/Getty Images) #




29
U.S. Army Spc. Kyle Stephenson, 21, passes through a village during a mission to overlook a Taliban position October 28, 2008 in the Korengal Valley in eastern Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) #


The U.S. soldier depicted in the following two photographs was not stationed in the Korengal Valley, he was, however killed by a roadside bomb along with four other soldiers while on patrol in Gerdia Seria, Afghanistan on September 17th.


30
Imam Hashim Raza leads mourners in prayer during a funeral for Mohsin Naqvi at al-Fatima Islamic Center in Colonie, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 22, 2008. Naqvi was a Muslim, a native of Pakistan (he emigrated to the U.S. with his family when he was 8 years old and became a citizen at 16) and a U.S. Army officer. He was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol last week in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) #




31
Hassan Naqvi mourns beside the coffin of his brother Mohsin Naqvi before a funeral at al-Fatima Islamic Center in Colonie, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) #

[David]

A German Bundeswehr army CH-53 helicopter of the ISAF lands on a helipad near a camp in Fayzabad, north of Kabul, September 19, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch)




2
A pair of ISAF soldiers stand on a hillside overlooking Kabul, Afghanistan on the night of January 11, 2008 (ISAF Photos) #




3
German Bundeswehr army soldiers of the 263rd paratroopers unit of the ISAF walk through the camp before leaving for a night mission in Kunduz, Afghanistan on October 2, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




4
A soldier from the German Bundeswehr army, 263rd paratroopers unit of the ISAF, adjusts his night vision goggles in the camp before leaving for a night mission in Kunduz, October 2, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




5
An ISAF Patria XA-188 GVV armored personnel carrier passes local Afghans while patrol mission around Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan on June 9, 2008. (Richard Frigge/SHAPE photos) #




6
An observer aboard a German Bundeswehr army CH-53 helicopter with the ISAF sits on the back door during a flight from Fayzabad to Kunduz, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on September 24, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




7
An Afghan boy holds his toy weapon as Belgian army soldiers of the ISAF patrol during a joint mission with German Bundeswehr army soldiers in Taloqan, west of Kunduz, Afghanistan on September 30, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




8
German Bundeswehr army soldiers of the ISAF gather inside a shelter during a rocket attack against their base in Kunduz, Afghanistan on October 3, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




9
A cat named "Ebola" stretches among the German Bundeswehr army soldiers of the ISAF in Toloqan, west of Kunduz, Afghanistan on September 25, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




10
A German Bundeswehr soldier with the ISAF sleeps inside a "Fuchs" armoured personnel carrier during a night mission in Kunduz, Afghanistan on October 4, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




11
An ISAF soldier with the German Bundeswehr observes the situation from the back door during a flight on a German Bundeswehr army CH-53 helicopter from Kunduz to the German base in Fayzabad, northern Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #




12
A German Bundeswehr soldier with the ISAF monitors the area on a mountain during a sweep mission with an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team on the outskirts of Fayzabad, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on September 20, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




13
An Afghan boy on a donkey with a water bucket on his shoulders passes by ISAF soldiers with the German Bundeswehr patrolling the mountain villages on the outskirts of Fayzabad, northern Afghanistan, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #




14
An ISAF soldier with the German Bundeswehr uses a picture of his family as a bookmark while he reads during a flight on a Bundeswehr army CH-53 helicopter from Kunduz to the German base in Fayzabad, northern Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #




15
British paratroopers Private Danny Berk, right, and Corporal Scott Evens move through a hole blown in a compound wall by a grenade, Saturday Aug. 31, 2008, while protecting a convoy. The convoy consisted of over 100 vehicles in total, some carrying equipment and a new turbine for the power station at the Kajaki Dam. It passed through Taliban positions which were hit with artillery, mortars, Apache Attack helicopters firing rockets and Hellfire missiles, and fast jets dropping precision guided bombs, which resulted in an estimated 250 Taliban casualties. (AP Photo/Sgt. Anthony Boocock, MOD ho) #




16
A German soldier of the ISAF monitors the area during a tour for members of the German lower house of parliament Bundestag near Kunduz October 1, 2008. Chancellor Angela Merkel's government hopes to win a parliamentary mandate this month to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan by 1,000 soldiers. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




17
German Bundeswehr army doctors with the ISAF give medical treatment to an Afghan man with a bullet wound to his leg in the clinic of their army camp in Fayzabad, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on September 21, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




18
A German Bundeswehr soldier loads his magazines before going on night patrol near Kunduz in northern Afghanistan September 11, 2008. (Michael Kappeler/AFP/Getty Images) #




19
A German soldier of the 263rd paratroopers unit of the ISAF mans his weapon atop a Fuchs armoured personnel carrier in the camp before leaving for a night mission in Kunduz, Afghanistan on October 2, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




20
Afghan National Police officers, seen training with mock guns during a session with ISAF soldiers from the German Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) at the German army camp in Fayzabad, northern Afghanistan, Monday, Sept. 29, 2008. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #




21
German Bundeswehr army soldiers of the ISAF Quick Reaction Force (QRF) run during a night drill in the Marmal mountains near Masar-i-Sharif, north of Kabul, September 16, 2008. Picture is taken through a night vision device. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




22
A German soldier of the 4/452 military police battalion of the ISAF monitors the area at a road block during a mine sweeping mission in Kunduz, Afghanistan on October 6, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




23
German Bundeswehr soldiers of the ISAF Quick Reaction Force (QRF) open fire during a night drill in the Marmal mountains near Masar-i-Sharif, north of Kabul, September 16, 2008. Picture is taken through a night vision device. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




24
A German soldier with the ISAF rests during a joint patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers in the mountains near Feyzabad, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on September 21, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




25
A German Bundeswehr soldier with the ISAF speaks into his radio as he stands next to a former Soviet army tank on a mountain during a sweep mission with an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team on the outskirts of Fayzabad, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on September 20, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




26
A Panzerhaubitze 2000 Armoured Howitzer of the 14th company field artillery (B-battery C-platoon) of the Royal Netherlands Army fires its 155mm canon from Camp Holland in Uruzgan at enemy positions in Chora, Afghanistan on February 18, 2008 (Gerben van Es/SHAPE photos) #




27
ISAF soldiers of the German Federal Armed Forces pilot an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), called Luna X from a container at their base outside Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, Monday, Sept. 22, 2008. The remotely piloted Luna X is equipped with video, camera and an infrared sensor. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) #




28
A German Bundeswehr armoured personnel carrier of the 263rd paratroopers unit of the ISAF passes in front of a well-guarded building where a reception commemorating the 18th anniversary of the reunification of Germany took place in Kunduz, Afghanistan on October 3, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #




29
Honor guard carry the casket of Sergeant Prescott Shipway to a hearse past his daughter Rowan Shipway, 4, and his wife Diana Dawn Kaczmar (and his son Hayden, 6 holding a rose at far right) , at Canadian Forces Base Trenton September 10, 2008. Shipway, an infantryman with the Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, was killed on September 7 when his armoured vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan. (REUTERS/Fred Thornhill) #




30
German Bundeswehr army soldiers of the ISAF monitor a valley during a mission near Kunduz, Afghanistan on September 26, 2008. (REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch) #

[David]

An Afghan Special Forces policeman walks through a poppy field as he searches for Taliban fighters in the village of Sanjaray in Zhari district early April 26, 2008. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)




An Afghan soldier takes a break as coalition forces search for Taliban fighters in the village of Sanjaray in Zhari district early April 26, 2008. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)



An Afghan policeman adjusts his Kalashnikov rifle in the village of Sanjaray in Zhari district, some 35 km west of Kandahar, April 27, 2008. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)



Coalition forces cross a river during a mission near the village of Siah Choy west of Kandahar in Zhari district May 1, 2008. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)



A U.S. Marine, from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has a close call after Taliban fighters opened fire near Garmser in Helmand Province of Afghanistan May 18, 2008. The Marine was not injured. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)



A U.S. Marine, from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has a close call after Taliban fighters opened fire near Garmser in Helmand Province of Afghanistan May 18, 2008. The Marine was not injured. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)



Corp. James Davis of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is covered in desert dust after dismounting from his vehicle as he arrives at a forward operating base in southern Afghanistan Thursday, April 24, 2008. Some 3,500 U.S. Marines arrived in Afghanistan to help NATO's increasingly bloody fight against the Taliban. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)



British troops from 13th Air Assault Regiment and a U.S. Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit watch as palettes of water bottles drift to the ground on parachutes as NATO planes make a resupply airdrop to a forward operating base in southern Afghanistan Saturday, April 26, 2008. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)



Taliban militants stand with faces covered near the administrative department of Roshidan district, after capturing it in Ghazni province, Afghanistan on Friday May 30, 2008. Taliban militants attacked and captured a remote town from the Afghan government overnight, taking captive the district's government leader and eight police, militants and officials said. (AP Photo/Rahmatullah Naikzad)



An Afghan woman begs for alms, as a man rides past, with a backdrop of the Darul Aman's palace which was destroyed during the civil war of 1992 in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday March 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)



An Afghan boy sits on a donkey as he carries grass for cattle to his home on the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)



Afghan girls swing in the old part of Kabul, Afghanistan on May 23, 2008. (MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images)