NEAR ASADABAD, Afghanistan
An Afghan fighter moves forward to get a better shot during an ambush by Taliban fighters. The ambush pinned down a convoy of U.S. and Afghan soldiers on a mountain road near Asadabad until Special Forces soldiers summoned helicopters and A-10 fighter planes to chase off insurgents.» Read the story

Gardez, Afghanistan
An Afghan man guards a school built by U.S. troops near the Taliban stronghold of Gardez.

Kandahar, Afghanistan
A child suffering from malnutrition is so listless he doesn't react to flies landing on his face. For him and others, Mir Wais hospital in Kandahar is more of a pre-morgue than a place to get relief.
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Qalaat, Afghanistan
One face, 5,000 years. This Pashtun man's face is a study in Afghan's multiethnic diversity. Despite people's ethnic identities here, most Afghans have genetic material from both the east and west: Greek, Semitic, European and Central Asian.

Qalaat, Afghanistan
Afghan girls in Qalaat are far less shy than in other regions closer to the Pakistan border. Here they pepper a reporter with questions about his daughters.

It's another day at work for a mortar crew at Firebase Purgatory, getting ready to fire illumination rounds on a ridge from where Taliban fighters have been firing rockets.

Near Qalaat, Afghanistan
Two 10th Mountain Division snipers watch a construction site after Taliban fighters attacked crews working on the road linking Afghanistan's major cities to Kabul.

Asadabad, Afghanistan
A teen rides casually through a cluster of 82nd Airborne Division soldiers reconnoitering a bridge outside the town of Asadabad, near the Pakistan border. Several 82nd regiments were sent during last fall's elections to provide extra security in contested areas such as Asadabad, one of the Taliban's strongholds aside the Pakistani tribal areas. Taliban fighters launched only sporatic attacks here, with no deaths.
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A 10th Mountain Division sniper makes sure nothing goes wrong as Afghan Special Forces soldiers invade a village, looking for Taliban fighters who fired rockets at a nearby U.S. fire base.

These Afghan fighters belong to the Interior Ministry. American forces in Afghanistan more and more train the soldiers they team with, rather than 'renting' undisciplined militias belonging to local warlords, or to local governors.

Afghanistan
Afghan Special Forces soldiers sweep into a village sympathetic to the Taliban, chasing insurgents who fired a rocket at a U.S. fire base.
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Afghanistan
Near QALAAT, Afghanistan An Afghan Special Forces soldier guards a cluster of villagers rounded up after Taliban fighters fired a rocket at a U.S. fire base.
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