Everybody Hurts...AFGHANISTAN

JANUARY 2010

An Afghan boy stands near a public water pump in Kabul January 13, 2010. Nearly half way through the Afghan winter, unusually warm and dry weather is raising fears of a drought that could cause food shortages, undermine efforts to slash poppy growing and worsen security problems

Ten-year-old Nahid grabs a thread while she weaves carpet in her home in Kabul, Afghanistan on Jan. 9, 2010.

A U.S. Marine from India Company, 3rd Battalion 4th Marines, patrols at Delaram district in Nimroz province, southern Afghanistan January 17, 2010.

U.S. Special Forces dismount from a U. S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter while executing a pinnacle landing on a mountain peak to disrupt insurgent communications in Zabul province, Afghanistan, Jan. 21, 2010. The Black Hawk crew is assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade

Taliban fighters display their weapons during a patrol in Ghazni province on January 23, 2010. Plans by Kabul to persuade Taliban

members to lay down their arms would not apply to foreigners who had joined the insurgency, often for ideological reasons.on

A guard and his dog stand inside the remains of the destroyed Darulaman Palace, or Royal Palace, January 29, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Darulaman Palace, which was first gutted by fire in 1969, was built in the 1920s under the reformist King Amanullah Khan. It has repeatedly been used by occupying militias and governments over the years of internecine fighting in Afghanistan

Afghan boys play outside as they wait for medical treatment at the Lindenau Clinic at Forward Operating Base Price, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 21, 2010

A fruit vendor holds lemons in his hands along a busy shopping street on January 27, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan

A man found walking in the woods and suspected of being with the Taliban is held by members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and US Army Soldiers with the Army 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Division during an air assault operation on the town of Oshaky on January 16, 2010 in Oshaky, Afghanistan

Sgt. Francisco Espinoza with a US Army Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) walks down the street on January 20, 2010 in Orgune, Afghanistan. The soldiers, from Forward Operating Base (FOB) Orgun-E in Paktika Province, went to the village to inquire about local needs and concerns

A man finishes his exercise routine at a wushu club in Kabul, Afghanistan on January 4, 2010

Ricky, an explosive detector dog, is seen with Canadian soldiers from Task Force 3-09 Battle Group during operation Tazi, a village search and security operation in the Dand area of Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan on 26 January, 2010

Turkish soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), look towards the site of explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010

Afghan National Army soldiers celebrate over the dead body of a gunman as government forces restored control after the Taliban attack in Kabul January 18, 2010. Taliban gunmen launched a brazen assault on targets in the centre of Kabul on Monday, with suicide bombers blowing themselves up at several locations and heavily armed militants fighting a pitched battle in a shopping centre

An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier keeps watch as smoke billows from a building where clashes between Taliban-linked militants and security forces occurred in Kabul on January 18, 2010

A charcoal seller covers his mouth with a scarf as he waits for customers in front of his shop in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010. (AP

An injured Afghan National Security force member lies on the ground as his colleagues tend to him during a fierce gun battle in Helmand province, Afghanistan on Friday, January 29th, 2010. A fierce gun battle broke out between security forces and a team of Taliban fighters targeting U.N. and government buildings on Friday in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. The fighting came nearly two weeks after a similar assault in the Afghan capital of Kabul, once again showing the ability of insurgents to penetrate heavily secured areas

A girl looks out from her doorway at an Afghan National Army soldier searching an area used recently as a firing position by Taliban militants, during a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol in the Pech Valley, Kunar province, northeastern Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010

Shepherds herd their sheep as Dutch soldiers of Charlie Air assault patrol in Chora valley in southern Uruzgan province on January 22, 2010. The Netherlands Royal Army leads the NATO/ISAF joint task force in this southern province of Afghanistan

A soldier with the Afghan National Army (ANA) warms himself over a morning fire during an air assault operation with the Army 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Division on the town of Oshaky on January 18, 2010 in Oshaky, Afghanistan. Oshaky, closeto the Pakistani border, is known to harbor anti-coalition fighters and to be the home village of an area Taliban leader. The air assaultoperation focused on gathering intelligence and conducting searches of homes in the village where it is believed that numerous attacks on coalition troops have been planned

Afghan soldiers trained by US Marines from the First Battalion, 6th regiment, thumb through an issue of People Magazine as they wait to be transferred to another camp, in Mahafiz camp in the outskirts of Marjah in central Helmand on January 23, 2010

US Marines attached to 1st Battalion, 6th regiment, Charlie company relax with bomb sniffer dog "Buttom" in Huskers camp on the outskirts of Marjah in central Helmand on January 25, 2010

U.S. Airmen from the 340th Expeditionary Air Squadron prepare to refuel an E-3 airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft Jan.15, 2010, over Afghanistan

A British soldier stands in front of an Afghan vehicle, known as a "jingle truck", as he provides security outside KandaharAirfield, Afghanistan, Jan. 2, 2010. The soldier is assigned to B Flight, 27 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment, which is serving with NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

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