Near QALAAT, Afghanistan
A taxi driver waits for his fares to return at an Army vehicle checkpoint on the road connecting Kandahar to Kabul.

Near Bagram, Afghanistan
If it moves in Afghanistan, it moves via CH-47 Chinook helicopters.
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The Stars and Stripes flies over a dusty stretch of Afghan plain as soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division and U.S. Special Forces move in to Purgatory, a tiny forward operating base on the edge of Qa'laat, as part of a 2004 effort to push the Taliban out of the south.

A U.S. reservist patrols past a polling station in Asadabad during the Oct.
12, 2004 elections, the first free presidential elections in Afghanistan's history. Though the city on the Pakistan border is -- and remains -- a Taliban stronghold, terrorists failed to disrupt voting because of a heavy presence by units of the 82nd Airborne, Reservists and National Guard soldiers.

Near Gardez, Afghanistan
An MP delivers a freed former prisoner back to his village in remote Afghanistan.
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Take a Chinese-made bike and add paper mache flowers and neon paint and viola, you're the coolest teenager in Mudhut, Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's southern plains are harsh, with shepherding the major career opportunity. This little goat will remain a pet for a while, but will end up at market before he's a year old.

Life has returned to normal amazingly quickly after the departure of the Taliban. Shops are busy and the streets crowded in Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city.