Maj. Matt O'Donnell of Glenelg, Md. squints as Ospreys carrying U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta lift off from the Forward Operating Base in Shukvani, Afghanistan on March 14. Panetta met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during his two-day visit.
U.S. Army soldiers protect a wounded comrade, Private Ryan Thomas from Oklahoma, from the flares of an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near Baraki Barak base in Logar province on Oct. 13.
Afghan men practice walking with prosthetic limbs at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) orthopedic center on Nov. 20 in Kabul. The workers at this center are all handicapped themselves, and the clinic has registered over 57,000 patients in its Kabul office and 114,000 countrywide since its inception 25 years ago.
An Afghan miner walks with his coal-laden donkey in a mine in Samangan province on Aug. 7. Afghanistan's deposits of iron, oil, gold, copper, lithium, and other mineral resources are estimated to be worth as much as $3 trillion.
Afghan men collects opium sap in the Mamoond Spin Ghar region of Nangarhar province on May 6. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has reported that opium poppy cultivation rose 18 percent from 2011 to 2012.
Former Taliban fighters hold Korans during a reconciliation ceremony in Hert on Oct. 22. Karzai has repeatedly appealed to Taliban militants to join the political process.
Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers participate in a ceremony handing over the Bagram prison to Afghan authorities at the Bagram Airfield on Sept. 10. The United States had operated the controversial prison, which was also the site of the Koran burnings in February, since 2002. Hamid Karzai welcomed the handover as a victory for Afghan sovereignty.
Farmers selling produce mingle with customers at an open air market in Herat on Sept. 25.
Afghan policewomen attend their graduation ceremony in Herat on Dec. 20. Four days later, an Afghan policewoman walked into a high-security compound in Kabul and killed a U.S. civilian contractor for NATO. More than 60 soldiers and civilian advisors have been killed this year in these so-called "green-on-blue" or "insider" attacks, an increase from 35 in 2011.
Children play by a lake on the outskirts of Herat on Dec 13.
