2009

AFGHANISTAN

Cpl. Casey Liffrig leaps for cover while Lt. Thomas Goodman gets down as Taliban fighters ambush U.S. soldiers from the2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division during a patrol in the Pech Valleyof Afghanistan's Kunar province on November 3rd, 2009.

An Afghan brick worker shows his dirty feet, after using them to mix the clay on November 6th, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan.Brick factories are a business that is still thriving. The land used is dry and barren which is perfect for the making of bricksproviding work almost all the year round. A few years ago all factories changed from wood to coal causing further problemswith pollution, the factories have been pushed out of the city limits because of this issue. Workers can make an average ofUSD 200 to 300 per month. For 1,000 bricks the factory will get about USD 45.

An Afghan army soldier secures a road as a fuel truck burns outside Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, east of Kabul,Afghanistan, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. A supply convoy of NATO and coalition forces was attacked by militants nearJalalabad city, two of the tankers were set on fire and three others damaged.

An Afghan girl looks out from the window of a helicopter on November 1, 2009 in the remote village of Maimai in Badakshan province.

A German soldier watches as a defensive flare is fired from his helicopter to prevent missiles from hitting the aircraft,on the way to Kunduz, Afghanistan, Friday, Nov. 13, 2009.

Afghan National Army soldiers train on a firing range at a U.S. army base in the Pech Valley ofAfghanistan's Kunar province Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009.

An Afghan boy bites the hand of an older boy who pushed him away as members of U.S. special operations forces hand outcandy during a joint patrol with Afghan National Army in Afghanistan's Farah province, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009.

A U.S. Army soldier of A-BTRY 2/377 PFAR Task Force Steel sets leftover gunpowder on fire after a fire mission atFOB Tillman November 22, 2009.

Bibi Adela, age 15, from Khost, grimaces in pain getting her wound treated on her amputated leg at the InternationalRed Cross Orthopedic (ICRC) rehabilitation center on November 23rd, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Bibi lost her leg belowthe knee from a rocket attack 5 months ago that killed her sister and brother, injuring her mother as well. A recentU.N. report has described 2009 as the deadliest year in terms of civilian casualties in Afghanistan since the start of theU.S.-led war against Taliban in the country.

Taliban fighters pose with weapons in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan October 30, 2009.

German Shepherds are trained to become demining dogs during a morning training session at the mine detection centre (MDC) in Kabul November 15, 2009.

A boy reacts with a laugh as he waits for customers at an animal market on a rainy day in the outskirtsof Kabul on November 23, 2009, ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha.

Afghan women wait in line at a CARE food distribution aimed at widows November 23, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan.The CARE monthly food rations for the needy gives the women 50 kilograms of wheat, three liters of cooking oil,one kilogram of salt and beans.

An American medic in the 82nd Airborne Combat Aviation Brigade gives CPR to a grievously wounded unidentified AfghanNational Army soldier in a Medivac helicopter November 1, 2009 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. The soldier had steppedon a land mine planted by insurgents severely wounding his legs.

Medic Sgt. Bryan Eickelberg of Arden Heights, Minnesota, with the 82nd Airborne Combat Aviation Brigade, watches doctorswork on a wounded Afghan National Army soldier that he had just brought in from the battlefield November 1, 2009 inKandahar province, Afghanistan. The soldier later died of his injuries.

An Afghan man monitors workers at an open air factory in the suburbs of Kabul, November 5, 2009.

Laurie A. Lewkowski, center, the mother of Marine Lance Cpl. David R. Baker, is overcome with emotion during the playingof "Taps" at his burial services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009. According to militaryofficials, Baker, 22, of Painesville, Ohio, died Oct. 20 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Jamalo, age 14, from Ghazni, is lifted out of her wheelchair by her uncle, Abdi Hadi, in her room at the International Red Cross Orthopedic (ICRC) rehabilitation center on November 18th, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Jamalo is now a paraplegic, crippled after her home became a battlefield during a violent attack between the Taliban and U.S forces over 5 months ago. She was inside her home during the attack when a rocket hit, killing 4 family members including her sister. She broke her arm and was hit by shrapnel.

U.S. soldier PV2 John MacIntosh takes cover in a farm field and scans the ridge line as Taliban fighters ambush U.S soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division during a patrol in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009.

U.S soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division return fire after their patrol in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province was ambushed by Taliban fighters on Tuesday, Nov. 3rd, 2009

An Afghan veteran and a staff member of the Military Museum stands next to sculptures in the museum in Herat, Afghanistan on November 5, 2009.

Afghan children read from the Koran as they attend a traditional school held in an old synagogue now being used as a Muslim mosque in Herat November 4, 2009.

An Afghan man waves as he rides with his friend in a self-made car on the outskirts of Kabul,Afghanistan on Saturday, November 7th, 2009.

A man passes by Darul-Aman palace on October 31, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan

U.S. military personnel watch movies on their laptops at Orgun-E Camp on November 6, 2009.

An Afghan police investigator kneels next to the bloody, shredded body of a Taliban militant inside the international guest house after an attack on October 28, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Taliban militants killed six U.N. foreign staff in the early morning assault

Families say goodbye to their Marines in the 3rd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, deploying to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom November 3, 2009 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Once in Afghanistan, the unit will fall under the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade -Afghanistan. Their mission will be to support combat operations as anartillery battalion.

Afghan National policemen look on as U.S. soldier Cpl. Joseph Dement, right, from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division helps train the police on how to apprehend a gunman at an outpost in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009.

An Afghan horseman looks on as his teammates fight to take possession of a headless calf during a game of buzhkashi on the outskirts of Kabul November 6, 2009. The Afghan national sport of buzhkashi is played between two teams of horsemen competing to throw a beheaded 30-kg (66 lb) calf, goat, or sheep into a scoring circle. Only the best players, the chapandaz, get close to the carcass in the competition, and the winner receives prizes either in cash or kind that have been donated.

A worker goes about his job inside the empty seat of the Buddha, which was destroyed by the Taliban, in Bamiyan, Afghanistan on November 9, 2009.

A young Afghan boy gives the thumbs down to a passing NATO French Foreign Legion convoy near Surobi some 50 kms east of Kabul, Afghanistan,Monday, Nov. 9, 2009.

Afghan men wait to have their photos taken at a checkpoint near the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Tillman November 24, 2009.

Kylie Moffat (right) watches the coffin of her husband Corporal Thomas Mason, carried from Trinity Parish Church on November 5, 2009 in Cowdenbeath ,Scotland. Corporal Mason 27, was serving with The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, when he was struck by a improvised explosive device in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan

An Afghan girl touches her mother's artificial leg the ICRC Ali Abad Orthopaedic centre in Kabul November 12, 2009. The centre, which is run mostly by disabled people, aims to educate and rehabilitate landmine victims and people with any kind of deformities, to help them integrate effectively into society. They also provide the patients with a 18-months interestfree $600 micro credit loan.

An Afghan girl crosses a cemetery on the outskirts of Kabul, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009.

A military helicopter takes off from the military airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009.

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