AFGHANISTAN

OCTOBER 2009

A view of the mountain that once held giant Buddhas built during the sixth century and destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 in Bamyan, central Afghanistan

An Afghan boy selling balloons in a dusty alley in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday October 25, 2009.

Afghan boys work as day labourers making bricks on the outskirts of Kabul on 15 October, 2009

Girls who fled from abusive family members, stand for a picture in Kabul on October 3, 2009. Afghanistan is poised to enact legislation that will outlaw the trading of women to settle a debt, spousal abuse and child marriages along with other violence targeting women - a bittersweet victory in a country where many victims say they don't expect laws to change such traditional practices, but one that its backers say nudges forward women's rights

Two young sisters stand in the hallway of Mirwais hospital October 13, 2009 Kandahar, Afghanistan.Both were badly burned when a helicopter fired into their tent in the middle of the night on October 3rd, accordingto their father. Three members of the family were killed in the incident. The family belongs to the Kuchi ethnic tribe, nomads living in tents out in the open desert whom are very vulnerable to a war they have little understanding of.

US Marines and Afghan National Army soldiers patrol as a controlled detonation explodes in the distance, duringday four of Operation Germinate in Farah Province, southern Afghanistan, on October 10, 2009.

The worn boot of a US solider is seen October 14, 2009 in Paktika Province, Afghanistan.The soldiers were looking for the highest ground to camp out for the night, to protect themselves from attack from known Taliban cells in the area

US Army soldiers shield their faces from the powerful rotor wash of a Chinook cargo helicopter as they are picked upfrom a mission October 15, 2009 in Paktika Province, Afghanistan

Afghan men sit, detained after they were caught by US Marines with substances used to make IEDs, during day four of Operation Germinate into the restive Bhuji Bhast Pass in Farah Province, southern Afghanistan, on October 10, 2009

US Army soldiers fires on enemy positions during an ambush at the village of Lanyal in the Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan on October 20, 2009.

A German soldier mans a checkpoint in Balkh, Afghanistan on October 15, 2009.

During a firefight with Taliban militants a US Marine sprints down an irrigation canal to a location to launch his rocket in Nawa district, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. Taliban militants attacked the Marineson patrol using assault rifles, medium machine guns, and snipers.

A US Marine reads a copy of Atlantic magazine as he rides on a CH-53 helicopter flying over Helmand Province,southern Afghanistan, on October 12, 2009.

A former Taliban militant covers his face during a ceremony in which weapons were handed over to the Afghan government in the city of Herat province west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. Around 50 Taliban militants from Herat province handed over their weapons as part of a peace-reconciliation program.

A man who is deemed insane is seen chained to a wall during his 40-day incarceration in a room at the Mia Ali Baba Shrinein Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009. It is believed that 40 days inchains and a restricted diet at the 300-year old shrine can cure the mentally ill and those possessed by djinns, or spirits.

Afghan university students shout anti-US slogans during a demonstration on October 25, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan.Afghans gathered in the capital at a mass protest, burning an effigy of US President Barack Obama, after allegationswere made that Western troops fighting the Taliban desecrated a copy of the Quran.

A dog, trained for dog-fighting, painted in orange stripes, pulls his master on a walk in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009.

Pupils sit in their classroom during a lesson on October 20, 2009 in Faizabad, Afghanistan. The teachers of this school are trained within two years at the Teacher Training Centre, which is currently housed inrundown buildings and tents. The Centre is being rebuilt with means provided by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

An Afghan man carries ballot boxes as he guides his donkey loaded with election supplies in the ruggedmountains of the Panjshir valley

Afghan police carry the bodies of three suspected insurgents in the back of a truckafter they were killed in a gunfight in Kabul

An Afghan boy jumps to cross a stream, in Surabhi, some 100 kms from Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009.

A girl holds a puppy as the sun sets over Kabul's impoverished Teppe Maranjan neighborhood

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