Earlier this week, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta indicated that American forces in Afghanistan would be accelerating their withdrawal. "Hopefully by the mid-to-latter part of 2013," Panetta said, "we'll be able to make a transition from a combat role to a training, advice, and assist role." This announcement came shortly after the Taliban declared its plans to open a political office in Qatar, allowing for direct peace negotiations. At the moment, the U.S. still has 90,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan, with 22,000 scheduled to return home later this year. Gathered here are images of the people and places involved in this conflict over the past month, as part of an ongoing monthly series on Afghanistan. [42 photos]
Men of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, during an operation near the end of their third deployment in three years in Afghanistan. They were securing route 611, which runs Kajaki Sofla, an area that had long been a safe haven for insurgent sub-commanders and for arms and drug trafficking. (Cpl. James Clark/USMC)
- 25th Infantry Division
- 35th Infantry Regiment
- 3rd Marine Regiment
- 4th Marine Regiment
- 6th Marine Regiment
- 76th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron
- Abdul Ghafar
- Abdul Malik
- Abdul Raziq
- Afghan government
- Afghan National Army
- Afghan National Army
- Afghan National Army training center in Kabul
- Afghanistan
- Afghanistan
- Afghanistan's National Institute for Music in Kabul
- Ahmad Jamshid
- Ahmad Masood
- Ahmad Nadeem
- Alexis Madrigal
- Alps
- Amber Leach
- Amy Sullivan
- Andrew Cohen
- Appeal-Democrat
- Aref Karimi
- Aref Yaqubi
- Badakhshan
- Brendan Smialowski
- Brian Resnick
- Bulgaria
- Bulgarian-born
- California
- Camp Bastion
- car bomb attack
- Centerville
- Chinook
- Chris Kaufman
- Christie Berkey
- Christopher G. Singer
- Daniel A Wetzel
- Daniel D. Snyder
- Dawood Ahmadi
- Daykundi
- Department of Education
- Dihdadi
- Earnest J. Barnes
- Family
- father-in-law
- France
- Frederick Douglass
- French army
- French Foreign Legion
- fruit seller
- Garmsir
- Getty Images
- Greenland
- Hamid Karzai
- Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Heather Horn
- Helmand
- Hercules
- Hercules
- Hero Mission
- Howard Wial
- improvised explosive device
- International
- Iowa
- Jack Hamilton
- James Clark
- James Fallows
- James McWilliams
- James Parker
- Jarrett Hatley
- Jillian C. York
- Joe Osbourn
- Joel Saget
- John-Manuel Andriote
- Jon Rasmussen
- Jordan Weissmann
- Kabul
- Kabul
- Kandahar
- Kandahar International Airport
- Kanye West
- Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg
- Kathleen McAuliffe
- Kunar
- Kush mountains
- Kyle Ocker
- Lance Cpls
- Lashkar Gah
- Lauren Wolfe
- Leon Panetta
- Los Alamitos
- Mansoor Nadri
- Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron
- Marion
- Marion Nestle
- Maryland
- MASSOUD HOSSAINI
- Matthew Scofield
- Megan McArdle
- memorial services
- Military of Afghanistan
- Millingport
- Mohammad Saber Yaqoti Hussaini Khedri
- Molly Ball
- Nangarhar
- National Football League
- National Guard
- national police
- New York
- NFL
- Nicolas Sarkozy
- NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV
- Noor Mohammad
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- North Carolina
- Obama
- Omar Sobhani
- Oroville
- Pakistan
- Paris
- Payten Adams
- Philippe Wojazer
- Qais Usyan
- Qatar
- Rahmat Gul
- Rakovski
- Razia's Ray Of Hope Foundation
- Rebecca J. Rosen
- Reed Saxon
- Ronald H. Wildrick , Jr.
- Rory Hamill
- Sahar Gul
- Sandra McDonald
- Sandra Tsing Loh
- severe food shortages
- Shah Joy
- SHAH MARAI
- Simon Estes
- Sofia
- Southern California
- Steve Jobs
- Steven Heller
- suicide car bomb explosion
- suicide car bomber
- Svilen Simeonov
- Syracuse
- Taliban
- Temecula
- the Grammys
- Travis W. Riddick
- Tyler Price
- United Nations
- United States
- United States Army
- United States Navy
- War
- War in Afghanistan
- Wazir Akbar Khan hospital in Kabul
- Wendy Kaminer
- Wesley Adams
- Wesley Adams Sunday
- What Big Ag
- Zabul
- Zalmai Ayobi
As the war in Afghanistan passes the 10-year mark, the security outlook still looks bleak. Nevertheless, the Obama administration has just asked the Pentagon for initial recommendations for the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan in 2014 -- the first step in planning the final U.S. withdrawal. According to the Associated Press, as of yesterday, November 1, 2011, at least 1,704 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. U.S. diplomats are now asking Afghanistan's neighbors to sign on to an ambitious plan for the future of Central Asia -- ambitiously being called the "New Silk Road" -- that would link the infrastructure of surrounding countries from Kazakhstan to India. Gathered here are images from there over the past month, part of an ongoing monthly series on Afghanistan. [41 photos]
A severely wounded US Marine hit by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) is carried by his comrades to a medevac helicopter of U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment to be airlifted in Helmand province, on October 31, 2011. The Marine was hit by an IED, lost both his legs and fights for his life. (Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images)
- 1st Cavalry Division
- 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron
- Afghan National Army
- Afghan National Army
- Afghanistan
- Afghanistan
- Aga Khan Trust
- Ahmad Masood
- Alexander the Great
- An Air Force
- Arizona
- Arlington
- Asia
- Asia Pacific
- Associated Press
- Aviation Regiment
- Aziz Ahmad
- Barack Obama
- BEHROUZ MEHRI
- Belena Marquez
- Brenda Laun
- Brielle (in stroller) and son
- brother-in-law
- Byr
- Byron Greff
- C-17
- C-17 Globemaster III
- Camp Bastion
- car bomber
- Central Asia
- Charlie Company
- Cheryl Cole
- Chinook
- Chris Wattie
- Christopher J. McInerney
- Cliff Owen
- coal dump site
- Dave Hillhouse
- Delaware
- Dennis Elm
- Department of Defense
- Donna Elm
- Dover
- Drew E. Russel
- Drew E. Russell
- Francis O'Brien
- Getty Images
- Halloween
- Hashmat Stanikzai
- Helmand
- Herat
- Human Rights Film Festival
- improvised explosive device
- India
- Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital
- International Committee of the Red Cross
- Isteqlal hospital
- Jalalabad
- Jeffrey Allen
- Jim Russell
- Jonathan Chandler
- Jonathon Gruenke
- Kabul
- Kabul
- Kamran Jebreili
- Kandahar
- Kazakhstan
- Kellar
- Ken Scar
- Ken Scar/Combined Joint Task Force
- Kevin Lamarque
- Khowst
- Kunduz
- Leroy Petry
- Lindsay
- Lurah River
- Mahfouz Bahbah
- Massachusetts National Guard
- MASSOUD HOSSAINI
- Maverick
- Meena Rahmani
- Michael Elm
- Michigan
- Mil
- Mil MI-8
- Military
- Military of Afghanistan
- Ministry of Defence
- Mohammad Ismail
- Muhammed Muheisen
- Norfolk
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- Obama administration
- Omar Sobhani
- Ontario
- Operation Enduring Freedom
- Paktiya
- Panjshir Valley
- Parwan Province
- Parwin
- Patrick Reynolds
- Patti Russell
- Pentagon
- Phoenix
- Rahmat Gul
- Ricardo Cerros Jr.
- Sarobi
- Scotts
- SHAH MARAI
- Shinkai
- South Weber
- Steve Ruark
- suicide car bomber
- Taliban
- Taliban
- Tennessee
- Trenton
- U.S. Air Force
- U.S. military
- United States
- United States Army
- Utah
- Virginia
- Virginia National Guard
- War
- War in Afghanistan
- War on Terrorism
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- Young Eid Mohammed
- Zabul
- Zabul Provincial Hospital