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