Herat

In today's pictures, Chinese astronauts return to Earth, a former Taliban fighter joins Afghan government forces, a farmer wears a traditional umbrella in Nepal, and more.

In today’s pictures, a bank manager tries to calm customers in Cyprus, workers stage a strike in Hong Kong, a man cleans a huge pan in India, and more.

In today’s pictures, a man takes his cattle to warmer weather in Germany, smoke rises over a battered Syrian city, a man protests at St. Peter’s Basilica in Italy, and more.

In today’s pictures, a boy attends an anti-Japan rally in Beijing, Hindu women pray for good marriages in Nepal, a dog is decked out in Mulberry at London Fashion Week, and more.

In today’s pictures, a woman cleans her house in Afghanistan, a Russian-made plane goes missing in Indonesia, a boy celebrates Victory Day in Ukraine, and more.

STAYING COOL: A boy cooled off with water from a hose on a hot day in Manila Tuesday. (Cheryl Ravelo/Reuters)

MOURNING A LOSS: A Shiite Muslim woman cried during the funeral of Salah Abbas, 36, whose body was found late last week after he was allegedly shot dead by security forces, in the Shiite village of Bilad Al-Qadim, Bahrain, Monday. (AFP/Getty Images)

LARGER THAN LIFE: North Korean leader Kim Jong Eun was shown on a giant screen during a concert on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean army in Pyongyang, North Korea, Tuesday. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)

AWKWARD PHASE: A girl helped her boyfriend squeeze a pimple while standing on a street in downtown Shanghai Tuesday. (Aly Song/Reuters)

STILL SEARCHING: Bystanders looked at a billboard in Herat, Afghanistan, promising a reward for information leading to the recovery of former FBI agent Robert Levinson Tuesday. Mr. Levinson disappeared some five years ago in Iran. (Jalil Rezayee/European Pressphoto Agency)

LOOKING BACK: People laid flowers at a memorial Tuesday in Yerevan, Armenia, to people killed by Ottoman Turks during World War I, marking the 97th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. (Karen Minasyan/AFP/Getty Images)

STORM CLOUDS GATHER: Dark clouds hung over cranes at a construction site in Munich Tuesday. (Stephan Jansen/AFP/Getty Images)

Usually when I go to shoot for a story, we are faced with a bomb blast, a suicide attack, or some other type of violence here in Afghanistan. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when I visited...

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)

Often in the Big Picture we feature "slice of life" photography originating from around the world, brought to us by photographers based in those countries who work for the Associated Press, Reuters and Getty Images. The photographs are often simple and show daily life in many places that we might not be able to experience in any other way except through those photographers' documentation. The images themselves are somewhat universal - they show us where people live and how people live, sometimes not so differently than we do ourselves. -- Paula Nelson (35 photos total)
Three-year-old Nadia Nassrallah eats her breakfast in from of her home in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, Oct. 4, 2011. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press)

Each month in the Big Picture, we post a collection of photographs from Afghanistan.  They feature American forces and those of other countries, and they show us daily life among the Afghan people.  In June, President Obama declared that the United States had largely achieved its goals in Afghanistan, which set in motion an aggressive timetable for the withdrawal of American troops. However, the fighting has spiked in some regions of the country. On Aug. 6, the United States suffered its deadliest day in the nearly decade-long war when insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter, killing 30 Americans and eight Afghans.  According to the United Nations, 360 Afghan civilians were killed in June alone.  The surges of violence reflect how deeply entrenched the insurgency remains even far from its strongholds. The war continues.  -- Paula Nelson (42 photos total)
Villager Juma Khan meets with the provincial district governor and fellow villagers at a shura, or consultation, on July 23 at the US Marine Patrol Base Salaam Bazaar in Helmand province, Afghanistan. As mentors with the international coalition attempt to phase out their involvement and put Afghan institutions in the lead, the Taliban continue to gain strength in many of Helmand's northern communities, where legitimate Afghan governance is more of a plan than a reality. (David Goldman/Associated Press)