A boy from Kapisa Province stands in a tent camp east of Kabul on Oct. 21.
Refugees pray in the Maslakh refugee camp on the outskirts of Herat on Oct. 15.
An Afghan in the countryside outside Herat on Oct. 12.
Afghan National Army recruits take part in a training exercise in Kabul on Aug. 8.
Workers pluck saffron flowers on Nov. 9 on a farm in Herat.
Horsemen compete in a game of buzkashi -- an ancient sport in which two teams of riders try to throw a goat carcass into a scoring circle -- in Kabul on April 23.
An Afghan policeman keeps watch from a machine gun nest in Shahwali Kot district in Kandahar on May 8.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, talks to a British soldier in Qari Saheb village in Helmand province on Feb. 15. McChrystal was relieved of his command in June after he and his staff were quoted in a Rolling Stone article disparaging Vice President Joe Biden and other top civilian leaders.
Gen. David Petraeus, McChrystal's replacement as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, addresses troops at Forward Base Wilson west of Kandahar on Oct. 7.
A farmer harvests wheat on July 30 near the ruins of the ancient Buddha statues that once stood in the central Afghan province of Bamiyan. The two statues, which were nearly 2,000 years old at the time of their destruction, were leveled by the Taliban in 2001.
A boy runs past a wall decorated with stars in downtown Kandahar City on June 10.
A girl listens to her teacher during class at the Naswani school in Eraq village on Oct. 12.
French soldiers from 68 Regiment Africa Artillery fire a mortar from a combat outpost in Surobi District on Sept. 21.
A porter waits for customers at a market in Kabul on Nov. 1.
German soldiers weather a storm north of Kunduz on May 18.
A child sits before a man fanning the flames of a barbeque as U.S. soldiers of the 97th Military Police Battalion pay a courtesy call to the compound of Haji Toorjaam, a local authority figure, in Kandahar City on June 9.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai takes notes as he talks to locals in the town of Marjah, in Helmand Province, on March 7.
Horsemen play buzkashi in Kabul on Feb. 19.
Afghan laborers work at a brick-making kiln in the countryside outside Herat on Oct. 12.
A girl from Kapisa Province stands outside a tent in a refugee camp east of Kabul on Oct. 21.
U.S. Marine explosive ordnance disposal technicians Sgt. Dillon Paulus, left, and Staff Sgt. Kyle Schriber collect their gear after exploding an improvised explosive device (IED) found near Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge on Oct. 16, in Kajaki District.
Brothers Barangai, 6, right, and Shaista Khan, 4, pose for a portrait at a bazaar area just outside a U.S. Marines combat outpost in Marjah, Helmand province, on April 11.
U.S. Army Sgt. Justin Brown gets his hair cut by another soldier in Lakhokhel camp in the Zari district of Kandahar City on Dec. 3.
Girls listen during class in an outdoor classroom at the Markaz high school in Bamiyan on Oct. 13.
People protect themselves from the wind during a sandstorm that followed a severe rainstorm in Kabul on May 16.
An infant cries as her forearms, badly burned in a cooking accident, are dressed by soldiers in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division in the tiny village of Now Ruzi, west of Kandahar, on Oct. 12.
A Pashtun girl watches as medic Pfc. Benjamin Fisher and Sgt. Scott MacKinnon of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division pack up after dressing her infant sister's burns in Now Ruzi on Oct. 12.
A Hazara Afghan woman walks past the ruins of the ancient Buddha statues that once stood in Bamiyan on Aug. 1.
Maria,18, left, shares a seat with her niece, Alima,5, as Sabira, right, writes during geography class at the Markaz high school in Bamiyan on Oct. 13.
Afghans prepare to leave Herat on the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia on Nov. 2.
A farmer walks with his cattle around Lakokhel camp in the Zari district of Kandahar City on Dec. 3.
A U.S. Marine guards an Afghan detainee at the entrance to a bunker at a Marine base in the town of Marjah, Helmand Province, on April 7. In February, Marjah was the site of Operation Moshtarak, the largest offensive by U.S. and Afghan troops in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban.
A girl stands outside a hair salon on a commercial street in Kabul on May 1.
Afghan National Army recruits take part in a training exercise in Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 8.
Children herd cattle near the Hindu Kush mountain range in Bagram on Sept. 18.
An election worker at a polling station in Mazar-e-Sharif on Sept. 18, the day of Afghanistan's parliamentary elections.
U.S. Marines set up a sniper position to provide security for a patrol at an outpost above Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge in Kajaki on Oct. 22.
A member of the Afghan National Police in Kandahar City on June 14.
A woman walks past the ruins of Darulaman palace, the residence of King Amanullah during his reign in the 1920s, in Kabul on Sept. 16.
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