Afghanistan, November, 2010

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One of twenty surrendering Taliban militants is presented to the media while being held for safety in a mosque belonging the NDS (National Department of Security) on November 4, 2010 in Herat, Afghanistan. Following an amnesty launched by President Hamid Karzai in November 2004, hundreds of anti-government Taliban militants have since surrendered to the government. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

An Afghan police officer points to the site of fire after a convoy of NATO fuel tankers was attacked by militants in Behsod district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Nov 14, 2010. Afghan Officials say insurgents set fire to a convoy of NATO fuel tankers in eastern Afghanistan, while a bomb blast in the south killed a NATO service member and other civilians. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

A U.S. Air Force KC-10 Extender aircraft assigned to the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, supplies fuel to a U.S Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon over the mountains of Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on Nov. 25, 2010.(U.S. Air Force / Staff Sgt. Andy M. Kin) #

President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Honor to Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, who rescued two members of his squad in October 2007 while fighting in the war in Afghanistan, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010, at the White House in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) #

Katie Stack, 19, looks at the flag-draped casket carrying the remains of her husband Marine Lance Cpl. James Stack, 20, after they arrived at Chicago Executive Airport on November 18, 2010 in Wheeling, Illinois. James Stack was killed November 10 while serving with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment in Sangin, Afghanistan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

US soldiers of the 502nd Infantry regiment 2nd Battalion Charger company blow up a wall of a compound around Kop Ahmed camp near Kandahar city on November 29, 2010. (MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images) #

A close-up view of saffron flowers on a farm on November 09, 2010 in Herat, Afghanistan. Around 2,500 farmers, in eight provinces, are working on saffron farms for export mostly to India and some European countries. The trade in saffron is estimated to be of an annual value in excess of 200 million USD to Afghanistan. Agricultural produce programs including Saffron are being offered to farmers as an alternative to the harvesting of poppies, used in the production of heroin and in breaking reliance upon financial support provided by drug organizations linked with counterinsurgency elements such as the Taliban. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Afghan children with sheep walk through a path covered with fallen leaves in Panjwai district, Afghanistan's Kandahar province, on Friday, Nov. 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) #

 

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On Nov. 11, 2010, above Sangin, Afghanistan, an A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft makes a strafing run in support of U.S. Marines. Once sharply curtailed because of complaints over civilian casualties, U.S. and NATO forces have ramped up the air war in Afghanistan since this summer. Coalition aircraft dropped 1,000 bombs and missiles in October - one of the highest monthly totals of the 9-year-old war. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)

An Afghan man waits for transport as night falls in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010 (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) #

Crowds laugh, sing and cheer as they wait for the music to start November 19, 2010 in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan. Thousands of fans flocked to the city of Lashkar Gah for one of the biggest musical events ever known in Afghanistan. The city's Karzai Stadium played host to a concert by world-famous Afghan musician Farhad Darya, dubbed the 'Afghan Elvis', an event that could never have taken place under the regime of the music-hating Taliban. (Sgt Rupert Frere/MOD via Getty Images) #

Farhad Darya performs November 19, 2010 in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan. Farhad Darya is a major celebrity in Afghanistan and across the Middle East and has fans in every country in the region, as well as many in the West. (Sgt Rupert Frere/MOD via Getty Images) #

A flare flies over a shadow of a chase helicopter during a Medevac mission in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province November 4, 2010. (REUTERS/Peter Andrews) #

U.S. Marines are served turkey dinners in the main dining facility during the annual Thanksgiving meal at Camp Leatherneck, November 25, 2010 in Helmand, Afghanistan. Roughly 15,000 Marines, other military and private contractors make up the population at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

An Afghan archaeologist looks at the remains of Buddha statues discovered inside an ancient monastery in Mes Aynak, in the eastern province of Logar on November 23, 2010. The archaeological dig is located at the world's second-biggest unexploited copper mine. The Chinese government-backed mining company, China Metallurgical Group Corp., which won the contract to exploit the site, has given archaeologists three years to finish the excavations. Archaeologists fear that the 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery will probably be largely destroyed once work at the mine begins. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) #

Graffiti left behind by Taliban fighters remains on the walls of a compound now used as a command center for the U.S Marine Corps's First Battalion, Eighth Marines at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. Musa Qala is an important battleground in the war against Taliban insurgents and the narcotics industry. The town has changed hands several times, most recently in December 2007 when Afghan and international forces retook the town from the Taliban. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #

 

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Graffiti reading "The Few, The Proud," by a previous deployment of the U.S Marine Corps's, adorns the walls at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #

U.S. Marines from First Battalion, Eighth Marines box in a tent used as a makeshift gym in their base at Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, November 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly ) #

A veteran member of the Taliban smokes a cigarette as he speaks to The Associated Press in Afghanistan on Nov 2, 2010. The longtime member said scribbled notes from Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar have surfaced in mosques all over Afghanistan's ethnic Pashtun heartland, threatening death to anyone who takes up a government offer to negotiate for peace. Trying to quash rumors of a break in their ranks, the Taliban have also vehemently denied reports that representatives of the militant group were involved in negotiations with the Afghan government. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) #

Afghan boys take aim with toy guns as they enact a scene of gun battle on the second day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) #

Artillery rounds of phosphorescence explode above Taliban positions during a battle in Musa Qala district in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province November 7, 2010. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #

A supporter of Afghan candidates for the parliamentary elections holds a banner during a protest in Kabul November 24, 2010. Afghan election candidates took to the streets of Kabul on Wednesday to protest against a polling process they say was corrupt and shameful ahead of the expected announcement of final results from the Sept. 18 vote. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #

Jayden French hugs his uncle, Spc. Nick French, of the New Hampshire National Guard, upon his return to the state at the Manchester/Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, New Hampshire on Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. Spc. French and the 172nd Infantry unit have been based in Afghanistan for the past ten months.(AP Photo/Charles Krupa) #

New Afghan police recruits practice shooting at a firing range on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan on Nov. 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) #

 

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Afghanistan, November, 2010 - The Big Picture - Boston.com