Afghanistan

A wounded Afghan man chats with a security man at the scene of a bomb explosion in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. Two Afghans were wounded in a bomb explosion in Jalalabad the provincial capital of Nangarhar province, Afghan police officials said. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

An Afghan woman lifts weights during a practice session inside a boxing club in Kabul December 28, 2011. Female boxing is still relatively unusual in most countries, but especially in Afghanistan, where many girls and women still face a struggle to secure an education or work, and activists say violence and abuse at home is common. Many in this conservative society still consider fighting taboo for women, and the country's first team of female boxers deal with serious threats. Picture taken December 28, 2011. To match feature AFGHANISTAN-BOXING/ REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SPORT BOXING SOCIETY)

This photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011 shows Sahar Gul, a 15-year-old Afghan wife, being carried in a wheelchair to a hospital in Baghlan, north of Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said police will arrest members of a family accused of torturing and illegally detaining their son's teenage wife Gul for the past six months while trying to force her into a life of crime. (AP Photo/Jawed Basharat)

A former Taliban militant holds his weapon prior to handing it over during a joining ceremony with the Afghan government in Herat, Afghanistan Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. About 10 former Taliban militants from Herat province handed over their weapons as part of a peace-reconciliation program. (AP Photo/Hoshang Hashimi)

Men load a sack of coal on top of a mini-bus for transportation during the distribution of winter assistance in Kabul by the UN Refugee Agency for the most vulnerable returnees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as well as others at risk in the cold winter weather, December 27, 2011. The Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation and UNHCR together provide essential non-food winter items to some 200,000 vulnerable people throughout Afghanistan as part of a coordinated emergency preparedness programme against the harsh winter. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Afghans miners and local residents wait for news outside a coal mine in Narin, Baghlan province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. An Afghan official says 11 miners have died in an accident at thecoal mine in central Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Jawed Dehsabzi)

epa03040933 Polish soldiers alongside the coffins of their comrades during the mourning ceremony at the Polish military camp in Ghazni, Afganistan, 22 December 2011. Five Polish soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on 21 December, in what was the single biggest attack on Polish forces since their deployment in the country. EPA/RADEK PIETRUSZKA POLAND OUT

TOPSHOTS -Afghan National Army (ANA) cadet graduates stand in a group during a graduation ceremony on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif on December 18, 2011. International troops in Afghanistan and all NATO-led combat forces are due to leave by the end of 2014. So far around 300,000 Afghan Army and Police personnel have been trained. AFP PHOTO/ Qais Usyan (Photo credit should read QAIS USYAN/AFP/Getty Images)

A military aide holds Purple Heart medals that U.S. Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta will award during his visit to the 172nd Infantry Brigade Task Force Blackhawks at a forward operating base in Sharana, Afghanistan,Wednesday, Dec., 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Pool)

Men work to a bridge funded by the Stabilisation Program North Afghanistan near the northern city of Kunduz December 11, 2011. The program is funded by the German foreign ministry with distribution help by the KfW Development Bank and implemented on the ground by the Aga Khan Foundation. REUTERS/Thomas Peter (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: BUSINESS CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYMENT POLITICS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

German Bundeswehr soldiers watch a rehearsal of the \"Nativity of Jesus\" in the camp of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kunduz, December 10, 2011. A group of the ISAF soldiers in Kunduz, led by the military chaplain, will perform an adaptation of the accounts of the New Testament for their fellow soldiers during Christmas celebrations on Sunday the 3rd of Advent. REUTERS/Thomas Peter (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY RELIGION)

Afghan Shiites beat themselves during a Muharram procession before a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. A suicide bomber struck a crowd of Shiite worshippers marking a holy day Tuesday in the Afghan capital killing scores of people in an unprecedented wave of violence against the minority Islamic sect in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

People react seconds after a suicide blast targeting a Shiite Muslim gathering in Kabul December 6, 2011. A suicide bomber attacked a Shi'ite Muslim shrine in central Kabul on Tuesday where a crowd of hundreds had gathered for the festival of Ashura, killing up to 20 people in what appeared to be an unprecedented sectarian attack REUTERS/Najibullah Musafer (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST RELIGION TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

GRAPHIC CONTENT Afghan men cry as they try remove the bodies and help wounded people after explosions during a religious ceremony in the centre of Kabul on December 6, 2011. At least 30 people were killed in an explosion at a Kabul shrine where Shia Muslims were marking the Day of Ashura Tuesday, an AFP photographer saw. The blast came in the city centre where Shias had gathered to carry out religious rituals to mark the day, a public holiday in Afghanistan. AFP PHOTO/ Massoud HOSSAINI (Photo credit should read MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images)

TOPSHOTS GRAPHIC CONTENT Afghan Shia Muslim's cry near dead and injured after explosions during a religious ceremony in the centre of Kabul on December 6, 2011. At least 30 people were killed in an explosion at a Kabul shrine where Shia Muslims were marking the Day of Ashura Tuesday, an AFP photographer saw. The blast came in the city centre where Shias had gathered to carry out religious rituals to mark the day, a public holiday in Afghanistan. AFP PHOTO/ Massoud HOSSAINI (Photo credit should read MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, front row, third from left, points beside Afghan President Hamit Karzai during the group photo at the former German parliament during the International Afghanistan Conference, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011 in Bonn, Germany. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

U.S. Army soldiers of A Company 125 BSB 3/1AD Task Force Mustang chat as they get hair cuts at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shank in Logar province, eastern Afghanistan December 1, 2011. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY)

An Afghan street barber shaves the head of a customer in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif on December 1, 2011. Despite massive injections of foreign aid since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan remains desperately poor with the lowest standards in the world. AFP PHOTO/Qais Usyan (Photo credit should read QAIS USYAN/AFP/Getty Images)

In this photo taken on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011, Afghan doctor Nafisa, examines a newly born baby, in an incubator at the Malalai Maternity Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghans are living longer, fewer infants are dying and more women are surviving childbirth because health care has dramatically improved around the country in the past decade, according to a national survey released Wednesday. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

A German soldier, left, with the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) stand guard at the scene, where a German military armored vehicle was hit by road side bomb in Baghlan north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. Two German soldiers with the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were wounded after their vehicle was hit by a road side bomb, Baghlan police officials said. (AP Photo/Javid Basharat)

Pakistani drivers stand beside a truck carring humvee for NATO forces in Afghanistan are parked at Pakistan's Torkham border crossing after Pakistani authorities shut vital NATO supply routes on November 28, 2011. Pakistan denied provoking NATO air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and refused to accept expressions of regret over the cross-border attack that has inflamed US-Pakistani ties. AFP PHOTO / A. MAJEED (Photo credit should read A. MAJEED/AFP/Getty Images)

An Afghan woman gives a notice letter to a policeman during a demonstration to rally for the \"Elemination of violence against women\" in Herat on November 27, 2011. The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission logged 1,026 cases of violence against women in the second quarter of 2011 compared to 2,700 cases for the whole of 2010. AFP PHOTO / Aref KARIMI (Photo credit should read Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)

US soldiers have their Thanksgiving Day meal at Bagram air base, 50 kms north of Kabul, on November 24, 2011. The meal was served to mark the US celebration of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. AFP PHOTO/SHAH Marai (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)

A man reacts as his quail fights in Kabul November 24, 2011.Quail fighting is both a popular hobby and a gambling game for people in Afghanistan. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY ANIMALS)

epa03012828 Afghan security officials inspect the huge quantity of Opium (raw heroine) recovered during an operation in Herat, Afghanistan, 23 November 2011. According to the Afghan opium survey, opium production is expected to rise 61 per cent in 2011 in Afghanistan and the value of the crop would more than double, the United Nations forecast on 11 October, in a trend it called distressing. Opium is used to produce drugs such as heroin and morphine. Afghanistan produces about 80 per cent of the worlds supply of opium, which the UN report said provides nine per cent of the countrys gross domestic product. EPA/JALIL REZAYEE

epa03011886 A photo made available on 22 November 2011 shows soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) taking part in a first aid lesson held by soldiers of the Hungarian Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (OMLT) at Joint Combat Outpost Khilagay in Baghlan province, Afghanistan, 21 November, 2011. ANA soldiers are trained by the Hungarian OMLT in Khilagay. EPA/SZILARD KOSZTICSAK HUNGARY OUT

U.S. soldiers of 2nd Platoon C Company 9th Engineer Battalion COP Dash Towp stand around a fire during an overall security and disruption insurgency mission in Wardak province, eastern Afghanistan November 16, 2011. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY)

epa03005490 Afghan delegates chat during the grand assembly or Loya Jirga, in Kabul, Afghanistan, 16 November 2011. Loya Jirga, began on 16 November in Kabul, despite repeated security threats by Taliban militants, to debate a proposed partnership with the United States, and the attempted talks with Taliban insurgents. A total of 2,030 representatives from all provinces are set to participate in the Jirga. EPA/S. SABAWOON

Afghan delegates of loya jirga or grand council stand to honor the Afghan national anthem during the opening ceremony of the loya jirga in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011. Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Wednesday on elders assembled for a national conference to help create a fair framework for relations with the U.S. and find a path to peace for the turbulent country. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Delegates listen to Afghan President Hamid Karzai deliver a speech during a four-day long loya jirga, a meeting of over 2,000 Afghan tribal elders and leaders in Kabul on November 16, 2011. President Karzai outlined a string of conditions for long-term US bases in Afghanistan at a major gathering of elders debating the country's future and peace efforts with the Taliban. Karzai told day one of the loya jirga that he wanted Afghan-US relations to be those of \"two independent countries\" and assured neighbours such as China and Russia that a long-term deal would not affect their ties with Afghanistan. AFP PHOTO/Massoud HOSSAINI (Photo credit should read MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images)

Soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) are seen through a window of a pick-up truck while leaving their Khilagay forward operation base to search for pro-Taliban fighters near Pol-e-Khumri, Baghlan province of northern Afghanistan, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011. The province's only ANA battalion operates with the assistance of the Ohio National Guard and the Hungarian Army. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)

A wounded Afghan boy who was shot on his chest gets help from his father and a US Marine to get in a medevac helicopter of U.S. Army's Task Force Lift \"Dust Off\", Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment in Helmand province on November 10, 2011. AFP PHOTO/ BEHROUZ MEHRI (Photo credit should read BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

Supplies are airdropped by parachute from a helicopter for US Marines in the field as a UH-1 Yankee Huey combat helicopter is seen in the foreground at Forward Operating Base Edinburgh in Helmand province on November 9, 2011. Combat outposts in Afghanistan are typically located in remote areas and house several hundred troops. AFP PHOTO/ BEHROUZ MEHRI (Photo credit should read BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan livestock merchant, Mohammed Sher, 55, with his sheep displayed for sale for the upcoming Eid-al-Adha festival, in an open market in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Nov. 4.

Afghan and foreign soldiers with the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) take position during a gun battle with militants at the compound of a private construction company, which was attacked by militants in Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011. A suicide car bomber struck the entrance of a private construction company near NATO's regional headquarters in western Afghanistan early Thursday, while other insurgents stormed the compound, sparking a gunbattle with Afghan forces who rushed to the scene, officials said. (AP Photo/Hoshang Hashimi)

Afghan policemen keep watch after a suicide bomb attack near a building used by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kandahar October 31, 2011. Three Afghans including a police officer were killed in a suicide attack in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar early on Monday, the interior ministry said, two days after a deadly bombing in the capital. REUTERS/Ahmad Nadeem (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)

A wounded U.S. soldier is carried away from the site of a suicide attack in Kabul October 29, 2011. At least four people were killed when a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of foreign soldiers in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Saturday, officials said, with an unspecified number of NATO-led troops among other casualties.

A NATO helicopter flies over the site of a bomb blast in Kabul October 29, 2011. At least four people were killed when a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of foreign soldiers in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Saturday, officials said, with an unspecified number of NATO-led troops among other casualties. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY)

In this Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 photo, Meena Rahmani, 26, owner of The Strikers, the country's first bowling center, holds a bowling ball in Kabul, Afghanistan. In an Afghan capital scarred by years of war, a young Afghan woman has bet $1 million that the country could use a chance to have a bit of fun _ by bowling. Located just down the street from Kabul's glitziest mall, Meena Rahmani opened Afghanistan's first bowling alley, offering a place where Afghan men, women and families can gather, relax, bowl a few games and not be burdened by the social, religious and cultural restrictions that govern daily life in the impoverished country.(AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A man mourns the death of his brother, who was killed in a fuel tanker blast, in Parwan province, north of Kabul October 26, 2011. At least 10 Afghan civilians were killed and 35 wounded on a road near a major U.S. base after a small bomb punctured a hole in the side of a fuel tanker that was later engulfed by a large blaze, eyewitnesses and officials said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace in Kabul October 20, 2011. Clinton said on Thursday she was looking for a \"reality check\" on a visit to Afghanistan, where she also pushed for closer cooperation with neighbouring Pakistan on both the war and economic development. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS)

An Afghan boy working in a bakery shop looks on in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A labourer (R), who works at a coal dump site, cleans his face after washing in the early morning hours outside Kabul October 18, 2011. Each labourer earns $10 on an average working day. Most of them come from the northern provinces, leaving their families behind in search of fortune in the capital. Picture taken October 18, 2011. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT)

The Qala Iktyaruddin Citadel is seen in Herat, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 17, 2011. An ancient citadel in Herat that dates back to Alexander the Great has been restored, a bright sign of progress in a country destroyed by war. The citadel, a fortress that resembles a sand castle overlooking the city, and a new museum of artifacts at the site was completed by hundreds of local craftsmen and funding and support from the U.S. and German governments and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. (AP Photo/Houshang Hashimi)

A U.S. soldier keeps watch at the site of a suicide attack in Panjshir province October 15, 2011. Suicide bombers struck inside Afghanistan's fiercely anti-Taliban Panjshir valley on Saturday, the first time in a decade of war that the insurgents have managed to use their trademark tactic in the normally peaceful northern province. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY)

GRAPHIC CONTENT Afghan Parwin, 23, a mother of three children and pregnant for three months receives medical treatment, after she committed self immolation, as her mother Bibi Khodijah gives her milk from a bottle at the burn unit of Isteqlal hospital in Kabul on October 8, 2011. Parwin covered herself in kerosene before setting fire to herself in her kitchen in Kunduz province. According to Parwin her husband who is working as daily labourer gave her very small amount of money and her brother-in-law often beat her, and once electrocuted her. In a the war-torn country where women are often oppressed, self immolation has become a common practise to escape family problem, with the cases of self immolation are growing at an alarming rate. AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRY (Photo credit should read ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan parliament speaker Abdul Rahoof Ibrahimi, right, talks to Afghan Lawmaker from western Herat province, Simeen Barakzai, lays down in her tent as she continued her fast for the eight consecutive day in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday Oct. 9, 2011. Barakzai, 32, decided to go on hunger strike after she was unseated by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) in August. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

An Afghan man shouts anti-Pakistan slogans during a rally, protesting against Pakistan's interference in Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday Oct. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

An Afghan rock musician performs in front of a cheering crowd during Sound Central, a one-day \"stealth festival\" in Kabul October 1, 2011. Sound Central, the one-day \"stealth festival\" that organisers hope will draw 1,000 to 2,000 young Afghans, is the first music festival the country has seen since it plunged into three decades of violence in the late 1970s. In a country where music was banned for years under the austere Taliban regime, the festival is a daring venture which has been publicized largely by word of mouth, and the date has been kept deliberately vague. Messages revealing the time and venue will go out to music fans only on the morning of the event. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

SPC Tolbert Brandon from US army HHB 3-7 Field Artillery Regiment 3rd Bct 25th ID scans feyes of an Afghan man with Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) during a mission in Turkham Nangarhar bordering with Pakistan on September 28, 2011. Turkham is a border crossing town in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan and the Khyber Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. A decade of fighting in Afghanistan has since snowballed into a huge effort involving around 130,000 foreign troops from dozens of countries, with the resilient Taliban using homemade bombs and guerrilla tactics in a bid to undermine the Afghan government and the NATO mission. AFP PHOTO / Tauseef MUSTAFA (Photo credit should read TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP/Getty Images)

A school girl uses a mobile phone to take pictures of artefacts on display at Kabul National Museum September 25, 2011. While everyone else is worrying about Afghanistan's future, a dedicated band of men and women is gathering up its past, hoping that a growing museum collection will show the world Afghan culture is more sophisticated than the tide of news reports suggest. Picture taken September 25, 2011. To match feature AFGHANISTAN-MUSEUM/ REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY)

Captain Michael Kolton from Bravo company 2nd Batallion 27th Infantry, wearing traditional Afghan clothes , hugs an Afghan National Army (ANA) officer before a meeting with Afghan elders gathered for a grand Jirga (tribal assembly) to discuss issues with US commanders at Outpost Monti in Kunar province, on September 24, 2011. A decade of fighting in Afghanistan has since snowballed into a huge effort involving around 130,000 foreign troops from dozens of countries, with the resilient Taliban using homemade bombs and guerrilla tactics in a bid to undermine the Afghan government and the NATO mission. AFP PHOTO/Tauseef MUSTAFA (Photo credit should read TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghans carry the coffin of Burhanuddin Rabbani, former Afghan president and head of the government's peace council, during his burial ceremony on Wazir Akbar Khan hill in Kabul September 23, 2011. Weeping Afghans gathered under tight security on Friday to bury former Rabbani, who was killed this week by a suicide bomber posing as a Taliban envoy with a message about possible talks. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST OBITUARY POLITICS)

Afghan First Vice-President Marshal Mohammad Qaseem Fahim, reacts during a press conference honoring former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani who was killed two days ago in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday Sept. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Afghan president Hamid Karzai, left, shakes hands with Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011. (AP Photo / Ahmad Massoud)

A supporter of Burhanuddin Rabbani, former Afghan president and head of the government's peace council, holds his picture while standing outside his house a day after he was killed in Kabul September 21, 2011. A Taliban suicide bomber on Tuesday killed Rabbani, a dramatic show of insurgent reach and a heavy blow to hopes of reaching a political end to the war. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CONFLICT POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

SPC Gart Kamon from Bravo company 2nd Batallion 27th Infantry Regiment is peppered with stones after firing 120mm mortar rounds towards insurgent positions at Outpost Monti in Kunar province on September 16, 2011. A decade of fighting in Afghanistan has since snowballed into a huge effort involving around 130,000 foreign troops from dozens of countries, with the resilient Taliban using homemade bombs and guerrilla tactics in a bid to undermine the Afghan government and the NATO mission. TOPSHOTS/AFP PHOTO/Tauseef MUSTAFA (Photo credit should read TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP/Getty Images)

NATO and Afghan troops attend to casualties during a battle with Taliban insurgents who took over a building near the U.S. embassy in Kabul September 14, 2011. An assault by Taliban insurgents on the heart of Kabul's diplomatic and military enclave has ended after 20 hours, when security forces killed the last of six attackers, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Neyaz Mohammad, top, sits with his brother, private security guard Nadar Khan, bottom, as he's transported to a nearby U.S. Army base for additional treatment for gunshot wounds after his remote outpost was attacked by insurgents Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011 at Combat Outpost Monti in Kunar province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

An image of the 9/11 attacks is projected above photos of soldiers on display from the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion 27th Infantry Regiment based in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, during a ceremony commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the soldiers the unit has lost in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since the attacks Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 at Forward Operating Base Bostick in Kunar province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

An Afghan police officer investigates the destruction outside Combat Outpost Sayed Abad in eastern Wardak province of Afghanistan on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011. A powerful Taliban truck bomb that wounded 77 American soldiers and killed five Afghans outside a combat outpost served as a reminder on Sunday that 10 years after the Sept. 11 attacks, nearly 100,000 U.S. troops are still fighting a war that shows no signs of slowing down. (AP Photo/Mohammad Naser)

Afghan people in a convoy drive on a main road, marking the 10th anniversary of late Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud's death in Kabul, Afghanistan Friday, Sept. 9, 2011. Massoud, the charismatic Tajik leader who commanded the Northern Alliance and died in an al-Qaida suicide bombing two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that provoked the U.S. invasion. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

epa02903848 Afghan students take part in undergraduate and postgraduate exam at an examination hall in Herat, Afghanistan, 08 September 2011. The International Literacy Day is celebrated on 08 September annually in different parts of the world. UNESCO reminds the international community on the status of literacy and adult learning globally. This year's theme is 'Literacy and Peace'. EPA/JALIL REZAYEE

Afghan police and officials gather near the bodies believed to be of two Germans who were found in Salang, north of Kabul, on September 6, 2011. Two bodies believed to be those of the Germans who went missing last month in mountains north of Kabul were recovered and handed over to US soldiers on September 6, an AFP photographer said. The bodies, wrapped in white plastic bags, arrived in a police vehicle after being taken by a team of Afghan security forces from a hard-to-reach area three hours' walk from the main road linking the capital with the mountainous north. AFP PHOTO/SHAH Marai (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)

A horse and wreckage of a car stand beside a cornfield Monday, Sept. 5, 2011 in the village of Asmar, Kunar province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Bloody feet prints are seen at the scene where Sabar Lal Melma, a former Guantanamo detainee was allegedly killed in a NATO and Afghan forces raid in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011. NATO and Afghan forces killed the man who had become a key al-Qaida affiliate after returning to Afghanistan, officials said Saturday. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

OBSERVATION POST MUSTANG, AFGHANISTAN - SEPTEMBER 02: U.S. Army soldiers from the 27th Infantry Regiment pull a bobcat tractor out of the mud at their mountaintop position on September 2, 2011 at Observation Post Mustang in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. The area, in northeastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, is a major infiltration route by Taliban fighters coming across from Pakistan. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

This photograph taken August 15, 2011 shows US Army Specialist Justin Coletti of US Forces Afghanistan K-9 combat tracker team resting with Dasty, a Belgian Malinois at an airfield of Forward Operating Base Pasab following a five-hour overnight air assault mission with Bravo Company, 2-87 Infantry Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team in Maiwand district, Kandahar province. Dasty who has a rank of a Sergeant, is a military working dog trained to patrol and locate a target individual and is currently deployed in southern Afghanistan saving lives of coalition forces in its war against Taliban insurgents. AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD (Photo credit should read ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images)

ACHIN, AFGHANISTAN - AUGUST 30: U.S. Army Sgt. Don Stolle launches a Raven surveillance drone into the air from the Afghan government district center on August 30, 2011 in Achin, Afghanistan. The military uses the small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to transmit live video back and watch for possible Taliban movements near U.S. forces on the ground. The craft, controled remotely like a model airplane, can fly for up to 1 1/2 hours and a distance of about 6 miles on its electronic motor before being brought back and relaunched with a fresh battery. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

MOHMAN DARA, AFGHANISTAN - AUGUST 29: A U.S. Army soldier in the 307th MP Company burns a chair as he and fellow soldiers dismantle a combat outpost on August 29, 2011 in Mohman Dara, Afghanistan. The military is closing the outpost, only months after it was built, as begins shifting troops, part of the overall military drawdown from Afghanistan. Some 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of the year. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

A freed Afghan woman prisoner along with her son leave the Nangarhar prison in the city of Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011. Around 38 Afghan prisoners were released from captivity based on the decree of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, honoring the 92th Afghan independence day.(AP Photo/ Rahmat Gul)

US soldiers gather near a destroyed vehicle and protect their faces from rotor wash, as their wounded comrades are airlifted by a Medevac helicopter from the 159th Brigade Task Force Thunder to Kandahar Hospital Role 3, on August 23, 2011. Three soldiers were wounded while their vehicle was destroyed up by an Improvised Explosive Devise (IED). All foreign combat troops will leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014 in a process that started last month and will require the Afghan army and police to play an ever-greater role in fighting the Taliban insurgency. AFP PHOTO/ Johannes EISELE (Photo credit should read JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

A wounded Afghan policeman is carried away from the site of an attack on offices belonging to the British Council in Kabul August 19, 2011. Taliban bombers killed two Afghan policemen and a civilian when they attacked offices belonging to the British Council and the United Nations in the centre of the Afghan capital on Friday, police said. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST)

Afghan policemen take up a position next to the offices belonging to the British Council during an attack in Kabul August 19, 2011. Taliban bombers killed two Afghan policemen and a civilian when they attacked offices belonging to the British Council and the United Nations in the centre of the Afghan capital on Friday, police said. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST)

An Afghan man carries an injured child from a heilicopter, after the boy was injured by a roadside bomb, in Herat on August 18, 2011. Women and children were among the casualties when a roadside bomb tore through the minibus in the western province of Herat, killing 22 civilians, the provincial government said. Military officials say the makeshift bombs, also known as IEDs (improvised-explosive devices) are the main killer of troops in the US-led NATO force deployed in Afghanistan and local Afghan security forces. AFP PHOTO/Aref Karimi (Photo credit should read Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)

A car is destroyed by U.S. Marines after being detected trafficking drugs by a Royal Navy Sea King Mk 7 surveillance helicopter in Helmand province, Afghanistan in a picture released August 17, 2011. REUTERS/Crown Copyright/MoD/handout (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY CRIME LAW CIVIL UNREST) NO SALES. NO ARCHIVES. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Wreckage of a Chinook helicopter shot down last week is seen at the site of crash at Tangi Valley in Wardak province some 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011. The Chinook helicopter that insurgents shot down over the weekend burst into flames before hitting the ground, leaving wreckage scattered on both sides of a river in eastern Afghanistan and killing 30 Americans and eight Afghans, witnesses told The Associated Press on Thursday. The crash of the Chinook CH-47, was the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the nearly 10-year Afghan war. (AP Photo/ Mohammad Nasir)

Afghan warlord Haji Tor Gani, wearing a red cap, hosts an iftar reception for US military officials belonging to 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, led by Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Anderson (L of Gani) in observance of Islam's holy month of Ramadan, at Tor Gani's highly secured compound in a village at Zahri distict in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, on August 11, 2011. Coalition forces have to deal with powerful warlords in their fight against the Taliban insurgents. Tor Gani's influence spreads over eastern areas of Zhari district. AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD (Photo credit should read ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images)

This photograph taken on August 10, 2011, shows fighters with Afghanistan's Taliban militia standing at a cemetery, near the site where a CH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying US troops crashed killing 38 personnel including 30 US soldiers, at the remote Tangi Valley in Wardak province, west of Kabul. Taliban insurgents who shot down a US Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan, leaving 30 American troops dead, have been hunted down and killed in an air strike, a US commander said on August 10. But the insurgent leader who was the target of the original operation in which the Americans perished remained at large, said General John Allen, commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

An Afghan roadside fruit vendor prays after breaking his fast during the holy month of Ramadan in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2011. Muslims across the world are observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, where they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk.(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

US soldiers from the 1st Battalion , 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team deliver two sheep at Combat Outpost Sangsar in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province on August 10, 2011. The sheep will be slaughtered for the Ramadan festivity of the Afghan National Army troops. US troops have trained Afghan security forces in their fight against Taliban insurgents. AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD . (Photo credit should read ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images)

An Afghan man gestures as he shouts anti-government slogans during a demonstration in Kabul August 9, 2011. Three civilians were killed and three wounded in a dispute over land on the outskirts of Kabul, police said. About 300 protesters carried the three bodies through the streets as they tried to make their way to the Afghan parliament. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CRIME LAW CIVIL UNREST POLITICS IMAGES OF THE DAY)

US troops from the 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87, 3BCT under Afghanistan's International Security Assistance Force, and Afghan National Army soldiers conduct a joint security patrol in the center of Kandalay village, as a fire fight against Taliban insurgents erupts in the outskirts of the village, in Kandahar province southern Afghanistan on August 4, 2011. The 140,000 strong US-dominated international military in Afghanistan is engaged in a massive drive to train Afghan police and army to take over before all foreign combat troops leave the country in 2014. AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD (Photo credit should read ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan men carry a man after he collapsed when he tried to get his belongings out of his burning fuel tanker on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011. Police said around five fuel tankers carrying fuel for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan caught fire at the depot. No casualties were reported, and it was not immediately clear what caused the fire.( AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - AUGUST 4: An Afghan woman looks at an ancient sculpture on display in the Kabul Museum August 4, 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The sculptures, which had been destroyed by Islamists during the Taliban regime, were repaired after the collapse of the hardliners in 2001. Portions of the collection have been exhibited in seven countries. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

Afghan actor Anyatullah Farmin (L) stands with a mock gun as an unidentified actor has his make-up done before the filming of a scene for the comedy \"The Ministry\", in Kabul August 2, 2011. Britain and the United States poke fun at incompetent, arrogant middle managers in the television comedy \"The Office\", but in Afghanistan the target is a fictional minister of garbage in a new series called \"The Ministry\". Instead of a series mocking drab office life in impoverished Afghanistan, where there is widespread unemployment, \"The Ministry\" mockumentary puts a satirical spin on some serious issues such as corruption, drug trafficking and nepotism. To match Feature AFGHANISTAN-TELEVISION/MINISTRY REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY)

Afghan policemen inspect the site of a suicide car bombing in front of the police chief's office in the southern city of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province on July 31, 2011. Ten Afghan policemen and one child were killed on July 31 by a suicide car bombing in front of the police chief's office in Lashkar Gah, local officials said. The attack came days after control of security in the city passed from foreign to Afghan forces in the first wave of the transition process which will see all international troops leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014. AFP PHOTO/Abdul Malik (Photo credit should read ABDUL MALIK/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan labors enjoy tea on a road side after a day's work in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, July 30, 2011. The war-torn country still faces the challenges of poverty, unemployment and a lack of infrastructure. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

An Afghan National Army soldier carries his wounded colleague to a medevac helicopter from the U.S. Army's Task Force Lift \"Dust Off\", Charlie Company 1-52, following a roadside bomb attack on the outskirts of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Friday, July 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

An unidentified relative of Kandahar city mayor, Ghulam Haidar Hamidi, sits next to the coffin Hamidi who was killed after a suicide blast in Kandahar July 27, 2011. Afghanistan's Kandahar city mayor was killed in a suicide bomb attack on Wednesday, just two weeks after the assassination of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother in the same city created a power vacuum in the country's volatile south. REUTERS/Ahmad Nadeem (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)

Rubeena, center, an Afghan street girl sit on the floor as she take notes at Ashiana centre in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. An Afghan aid agency, Ashiana, and the World Food Program have been involved in a joint venture to provide education and food to families of thousands of Afghan street children, who go there for food and education in the afternoons. The children go there after a morning spent as carpenters, mechanics, or cigarette sellers. World Food Program has cut down school meals, food-for-training activities and food-for-work programmes in about half of Afghanistan's 34 provinces due to shortage of funds. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

epa02842588 US Army Col. Chris Toner (L) and an Afghan man representing the families of the victims of NATO's airstrikes, sit in front of portrait of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, as they pray during a ceremony, in Khost, Afghanistan, 26 July 2011. Civilians make up the majority of the victims in the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan. An estimated 360 civilians were killed in May alone, according to the United Nations. EPA/STR ***BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE***

Taliban graffiti shows an injured enemy soldier at right being carried away during an attack decorating a wall in the Musa Qala district center and the current Battalion Command Headquarters for the U.S. Marine 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., Monday, July 25, 2011 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The district center, once a large opium market under Taliban control also served as sleeping quarters for opium addicts. The graffiti, from that period, depicts Taliban fighters shooting down Russian, American or coalition planes, blowing up their tanks and taking their prisoners. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Afghan honor guards watch an Afghan helicopter fly over the security handover ceremony in Panjshir province July 24, 2011. NATO troops handed over security responsibility to Afghan forces in the northeastern province of Panjshir on Sunday, capping an initial transition phase early after it was deemed a ceremony was not needed to mark Afghan control of districts around Kabul. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY)

Afghan police keep watch outside the house of Jan Mohammad Khan, who was killed by armed gunmen during Sunday's attack, in Kabul July 18, 2011. Gunmen killed Khan, a top advisor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and a member of the country's parliament in a residential district of Kabul on Sunday, just days after the president's brother was gunned down at home, officials said. The spokesman for Kabul's police chief said two or three armed men started a gun battle around 8 o'clock at the house of Khan, a former governor of southern Uruzgan province and close aide to the president. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Afghan Kuchi or nomad boys imitates the game of Buzkashi, normally played by collecting a prize on horseback, as they play their game outside their temporary camp in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, July 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

U.S. Marine Cpl. Chadwick Harrison, 23, of Dallas, Ga., with the 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., rests for a moment in the shade of the chow hall from the midday heat, Friday, July 15, 2011 at Forward Operating Base Musa Qal'eh in Helmand province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Afghan President Hamid Karzai looks down at the grave of his brother Ahmad Wali Karzai during his burial ceremony in Kandahar province July 13, 2011. Afghan President Hamid Karzai wept and kissed his dead brother's face as thousands of mourners gathered on Wednesday for the burial of Ahmad Wali Karzai, whose assassination a day earlier has left a power vacuum in Afghanistan's volatile south. REUTERS/Ahmad Nadeem (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY)

Staff Sgt. Rulberto Qjendismiranda, 20, of Seaside, Calif, with the U.S. Army's 2nd Battalion 27th Infantry Regiment based in Hawaii, looks at a photo of his son Marziano, 11 months, on his mobile phone aboard a military transport flight Monday, July 11, 2011 out of Forward Operating Base Fenty in Kunar province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

US General John Allen (L) and General David Petraeus (C) greet US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta as he lands in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 9, 2011. AFP PHOTO/POOL/PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Spc. Jacob Green, 22, of Shreveport, La., with the U.S. Army's 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion 27th Infantry Regiment based in Hawaii, reads a book overlooking the Cherigal Valley Saturday, July 9, 2011 at Observation Point Mustang in Kunar province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers take part in a training exercise at the Kabul Military Training Centre (KMTC) in Kabul June 20, 2011. Afghan security forces are due to take over security responsibility from foreign troops in seven areas of the country this year. This is part of a wider plan for Afghan police and soldiers to take the lead in securing the whole country by the end of 2014 as foreign troops gradually withdraw. Picture taken June 20, 2011. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY IMAGES OF THE DAY CIVIL UNREST)

U.S. Army Major General Daniel B. Allyn, commander of ISAF Regional Command (East) takes part during a memorial ceremony in forward firebase Joyce in Kunar province, July 7, 2011. Four U.S. Army soldiers, Lieutenant Dimitri Del Castillo, Staff Sergeant Nigel Kelly, Specialist Levi Nuncio and Specialist Kevin Hilaman, two Afghan National Army soldiers, an Afghan linguist and Agdar, a military sniffer dog died during operations in Kunar district in the last week of June 2011. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY)

An Afghan shepherd walks with a herd of sheep past a U.S. Marines armored vehicle of the Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines outside the Camp Gorgak in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan July 5, 2011. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY ANIMALS IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Elders from the Alizai tribe of the Laki area in Garsmir district discuss a project with Ryan Smith (2nd R), U.S. Marines Sergeant of the Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines during a Shura meeting outside Camp Gorgak in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, July 4, 2011. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY)

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron (C) greets British and American troops after giving a July 4th address at the Camp Leatherneck military base in Helmand Province on July 4, 2011. Cameron was forced today to scrap a visit to an Afghan town he had held up as an example of improved security after a soldier went missing in the area. The Taliban claimed that its fighters had kidnapped and killed a British soldier in Helmand, but there was no independent confirmation and the militia is known to routinely exaggerate its claims. AFP PHOTO / POOL / David Bebber (Photo credit should read DAVID BEBBER/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan men shout anti-Pakistan slogans during a demonstration in Kabul July 2, 2011. Around 150 Afghans took to the streets in the capital Kabul on Saturday, chanting \"Death to Pakistan\" in protest against the weeks of cross-border shelling of two eastern provinces. The banner reads, \"Death to the military of Pakistan.\" REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

Cpl. Sebastien Richer, 35, left, of Quebec, Canada, waits to play in a game of hockey Wednesday, June 29, 2011 on Forward Operating Base Sperwan Ghar in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Canadian combat operations will end in July as troops withdraw from the southern region and hand control over to the Americans. Canada will transition to a non-combat training role with up to 950 soldiers and support staff to train Afghan soldiers and cops in areas of the north, west and Kabul. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Non-Afghan soldiers leave after taking part in a military operation against Taliban militants that attacked the Intercontinental hotel in Kabul on June 29, 2011. Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the hotel sparking a five-hour battle with Afghan comandos backed by a NATO helicopter in an assault that left at least 10 people dead. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

A NATO helicopter fires a missile on the roof of the Intercontinental hotel in Kabul June 29, 2011. At least 10 Afghan civilians were killed when suicide bombers and heavily armed Taliban insurgents attacked the hotel frequented by Westerners in the Afghan capital late on Tuesday, Afghan officials said. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST IMAGES OF THE DAY)

A young Afghan patient exercises with her artificial leg at one of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hospitals for war victims and disabled in Kabul on June 27, 2011. The ICRC orthopedic project started in 1988 in Kabul, and it consists of 7 centers in different provinces. AFP PHOTO/ Massoud HOSSAINI MORE ON IMAGE FORUM (Photo credit should read MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images)

An Afghan policeman stands guard during a meeting for losing candidates of the September 2010 Afghanistan election, who have now been declared winners following a special investigative tribunal investigating alleged voting irregularities, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday June 26, 2011. There are 62 members of parliament who are alleged to have committed voting irregularities and fraud but who now refuse to leave parliament, creating an impasse for these candidates who are now unable to take their seat in the parliament. A portrait of President Hamid Karzai seen in background. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

The shadow of an Afghan child is cast onto his kite as he prepares to launch it into the evening air in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, June 24, 2011.

An Afghan boy holds a baby as U.S. , Canadian and Afghan soldiers give away school supplies, donated by a school in Canada, in the village of Small Loi Kola in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province southern Afghanistan , June 23 , 2011. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CONFLICT)

A US soldier from Viper Company (Bravo), 1-26 Infantry walks along with Afghan soldiers (front) during a patrol at Combat Outpost (COP) Sabari in Khost province in the east of Afghanistan on June 22, 2011. President Barack Obama will argue June 22 his Afghan war surge strategy has forged substantial progress and a \"position of strength\" which allows thousands of US troops to come home, officials said. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE (Photo credit should read TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)

epa02788042 Afghan skateboarding school students skate along a street on the 3rd annual 'Go Skateboarding Day' organized by the 'Skateistan School' in Kabul, Afghanistan 21 June 2011. 'Skateistan' is Afghanistan's first co-educational skateboarding school. Operating as an independent, neutral Afghan NGO, the school engages growing numbers of urban and internally-displaced youth in Afghanistan through skateboarding, and provides them with new opportunities in cross-cultural interaction, education and personal empowerment. EPA/S. SABAWOON

Afghan refugee girls run at a refugee camp on World Refugee Day in Kabul, Afghanistan Monday, June 20, 2011. More than 4.6 million Afghan refugees returned home since 2002 with assistance from the Government, the United Nations and partners. On World Refugee Day, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) called for accelerated peace initiatives so that all refugees can return, a released statement of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

US soldiers hide under a bunker during a mortar attack at Combat Outpost Sabari in Khost province in eastern Afghanistan late on June 18, 2011. Sabari district is one of the most volatile in Khost province which borders on Pakistan and is seeing a rise in coalition offensive against highly active insurgents. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE (Photo credit should read TED ALJIBE/AFP/Getty Images)

REFILE - ADDING DISCLAIMER ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH Afghan security personnel in plain clothes carry the body of a would-be suicide bomber after he was killed during an attack at a Kabul police station June 18, 2011. Suicide bombers in army uniform attacked the Kabul police compound on Saturday, killing two policemen and a civilian in the second major attack inside the Afghan capital in under a month, Afghan officials said. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST) TEMPLATE OUT

Canadian soldiers from the 6th Platoon, Bulldog Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Royal Regiment search inside a barn during a patrol in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province southern Afghanistan June 13, 2011. Canada will end its combat role in Afghanistan by the end of July, after nearly ten years fighting. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY IMAGES OF THE DAY)

U.S. Army soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, B battery 2-8 field artillery, fire a howitzer artillery piece at Seprwan Ghar forward fire base in Panjwai district, Kandahar province southern Afghanistan, June 12, 2011. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY IMAGES OF THE DAY POLITICS)

Lance Cpl. Blas Trevino, center, of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, shouts out as he is rescued onto a medevac helicopter from the U.S. Army's Task Force Lift \"Dust Off\", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment after he got shot in the stomach outside Sangin, in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan, Saturday, June 11, 2011. The Army's 'Dust Off' crew needed two attempts to get him out, as they were fired upon and took five rounds of bullets into the tail of their aircraft. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

An Afghan boy jumps into a public swimming pool in Kabul June 10, 2011. The temperature in the city is hovering around 33 degrees celcius and is expected to climb in the coming days. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY IMAGES OF THE DAY)

YAKAWLANG, AFGHANISTAN - JUNE 10: Heavy equipment works along the still under construction Bamiyan-Yakawlang road June 10, 2011 in Yakawlang, Afghanistan. The 69 Million US$ project is supported by the Government of Japan and World Bank. The 90K road project was started three years ago and is slated to be finished within another year. This new road means faster travel from Bamiyan to Afghanistan's only national park, Band-e-Amir. This is in of the safest parts of the country and the hope is to expand tourism in the region. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Villagers offer prayers near covered bodies, during the funeral ceremony for who were killed by a gunmen at a wedding party in the Dur Baba district of Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, June 9, 2011. Gunmen opened fire on a wedding party in eastern Afghanistan, killing nine people, including the groom, officials said Thursday.(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

An Afghan security personel walks with his weapon in the Naser Khusro Balkhi Library during an opening ceremony in Kabul on June 6, 2011. The Naser Khusro Balkhi Library was founded by The Aga Khan Foundation in Kabul. AFP PHOTO / Massoud HOSSAINI (Photo credit should read MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images)

A U.S. Marine dog handler attends to his his Improvised Detection Dog, IDD dog, after he was injured and rescued by a helicopter of the U.S. Army Task Force Lift \"Dust Off\", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment, in the outskirts of Sangin, in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan, Friday, June 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Food supplies for US Marines hanging off small parachutes are dropped from a plane outside Forward Operating Base Edi in the volatile Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan, Thursday, June 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

FAIZABAD, AFGHANISTAN -JUNE 1 : Marwa, 32, breastfeeds her six-month-old son Nurullah, while visiting a relative at the Badakshan Provincial hospital June 1, 2011, in Faizabad, Badakshan, Afghanistan. Marwa has 7 other children. Crises put pregnant women at greater risk due to sudden loss of medical support, trauma, malnutrition, disease and exposure to violence. According to UNICEF, 52 babies out of every 1,000 die within two weeks of birth and 134 die before their first birthday. While 1 in 8 women in Afghanistan die during pregnancy or childbirth, making it the worst place in the world to be a mother. Many mothers are having children too young. Along with diet, and extreme poverty they face huge challenges having a healthy pregnancy. Afghan women also deal with vitamin D deficiency from staying indoors and being covered up. In the rural parts of the country, in remote areas Afghan women deliver with no skilled help because women cannot leave home without a male and there aren't enough midwives

An Afghan child pushes a cart filled with water cans while walking with others on a dusty road in Kabul on May 31, 2011. Despite massive injections of foreign aid since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan remains desperately poor with some of the lowest living standards in the world. AFP PHOTO/Punit PARANJPE (Photo credit should read PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images)

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH A wounded Italian soldier is being helped after a blast near a foreign base in Herat May 30, 2011. At least two suicide bombers were involved in an attack near an Italian-run base in the main city in western Afghanistan on Monday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. Interior Ministry spokesman Zemari Bashary said the suicide bombers launched their attack near the joint civilian/military Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) base in Herat but had no details on any casualties. REUTERS/Mohammad Shoib (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS) TEMPLATE OUT

U.S. soldiers holds candles to mark the Memorial Day at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, May 29, 2011. Some U.S. troops in Afghanistan have held a candlelit remembrance for those lost ahead of Memorial Day. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah (C) sits near the coffin of slain police chief, General Mohammed Daoud Daoud, who was killed in a suicide bombing at a provincial governor's office, in Taloqan, capital of Takhar province on May 29, 2011. The police commander for northern Afghanistan and two German soldiers were among six people killed on May 28 in a suicide bombing at a provincial governor's office, officials said. The attacker struck in Taloqan soon after a meeting regarding security had finished. The Taliban claimed responsibility in what was their latest example of high-profile target selection. AFP PHOTO/Gul Rahim (Photo credit should read GUL RAHIM/AFP/Getty Images)

Wounded governor of Takhar province Abdul Jabar Taqwa watched by his relatives sits on a bed at his resident in Taloqan, capital of Takhar province on May 29, 2011. The police commander for northern Afghanistan and two German soldiers were among six people killed on May 28 in a suicide bombing at a provincial governor's office, officials said. The attacker struck in Taloqan soon after a meeting regarding security had finished. The Taliban claimed responsibility in what was their latest example of high-profile target selection. AFP PHOTO/Gul Rahim (Photo credit should read GUL RAHIM/AFP/Getty Images)

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUALS COVERAGE OF SCENES OF DEATH AND INJURY An Afghan man holds the bodies of two children who were killed after an air strike in Helmand province May 29, 2011. An air strike called in by NATO-led troops in southern Afghanistan killed 12 children and two women, Afghan officials said on Sunday, one of the worst civilian death tolls by foreign forces in months. REUTERS/Abdul Malik Watanyar (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) TEMPLATE OUT

Special forces soldiers embrace as the C-130 carrying Sergeant Brett Wood departs Tarin Kot Airfield in Uruzgan, Afghanistan May 28, 2011, in this photo provided by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Regional Command (South). The commando was killed in action on Monday during a partnered Special Operations Task Group and Afghan National Police mission. Picture taken May 28. REUTERS/Australian Navy Able Seaman Jo Dilorenzo (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY OBITUARY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

An Afghan man attends to his wounded brother at a hospital after a roadside bomb blast in Panjwai district of Kandahar May 24, 2011. Ten Afghan construction workers were killed and 28 wounded when their truck hit a roadside bomb in the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province, said Kandahar health official Abdul Qayum Pukhla. REUTERS/Ahmad Nadeem (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen (3L) and Afghan President Hamid Karzai (C) arrive for a joint press conference at the Presidential palace in Kabul on May 24, 2011. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on May 24 he was \"concerned\" about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons, the day after the worst assault on one of its military bases in two years. Rasmussen was in Afghanistan on a surprise one-day visit and met President Hamid Karzai to discuss the transition of security from NATO-led troops to Afghan security forces due to begin in July. AFP PHOTO/SHAH Marai (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)

epa02749401 A picture made available on 24 May 2011 shows an employee adjusting the clothes of the anchorman before the going on air at the regional studio of Afghan public broadcaster RTA in Puli Khumri, Baghlan Province, Afghanistan, 23 May 2011. A new 30,000 US dollar antenna, built by the charity organisation Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) and the Hungarian Army, which heads a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the city, enables the programming of the public broadcaster to be received throughout the whole province. EPA/SZILARD KOSZTICSAK HUNGARY OUT

U.S. soldiers take position near the scene of an explosion in Kandahar south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, May 22, 2011. In Kandahar, two police officers suffered injuries Sunday when a motorcycle laden with explosives detonated as they tried to disarm it, the ministry said. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

An Afghan baker man waits for customers at his bakery shop in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, May 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

An Afghan female cadet plays with her nephew after a graduation ceremony at the Military Training Center in Kabul on May 19, 2011. The Afghan National Army hosted a graduation ceremony for females graduating from Officer Candidate School at Kabul Military Training Center May 19. This is the second class to graduate Female Officer Candidate School since the course was established at the Kabul Military Training Center in May 2010. Female officers graduate after a 20-week course including computer training, human resource training, English classes, and marksmanship. AFP PHOTO/Punit PARANJPE (Photo credit should read PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghans try to carry a victim from the scene of a suicide attack in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 18, 2011. Afghan officials say at least 10 people have been killed in a bomb attack on a police bus that was carrying people to a police academy in eastern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghans carry the bodies of people killed overnight after a raid by NATO and Afghan forces, during a protest in Taloqan May 18, 2011. Ten people have been killed and fifty wounded in violent protests against the killing of two men and two women in a night-time raid in north Afghanistan, a top local health official said. REUTERS/Stringer (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)

In this May 15, 2011 photo, Afghan shepherd Asadullah Daad Mohammad, 12, right, listens to his father, Daad Mohammad Pir Mohammad, before he stands up on his artificial legs for the first time after he was brought to the International Committee of the Red Cross Orthopedic Center in Kabul, Afghanistan, about ten days earlier. Asadullah lost his two legs, left eye and a finger most likely after he stepped on a land mine while he was out with his goats and sheep at Paktya province, south of Kabul about five months ago. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Arrested as alleged suicide bombers, Afghan boys, Ghulam Farooq, left, Mohammad Yunis, up, Neyaz Mohammad in orange and Fazel Rahman, in green play Carrom Board with each other in their cell at the Kabul Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday May 14, 2011. The orders from their religious teacher were clear-cut: Go to Afghanistan, strap on a suicide vest and kill foreign forces. With that, 14-year-old Ghulam Farooq left his home in Pakistan with three other would-be boy bombers and headed into eastern Afghanistan. They were told there would be two members of the Taliban waiting for them at the Torkham border crossing in Nangarhar province. Instead, members of the Afghan intelligence service, who had been tipped to the boys' plans, arrested them at the border. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Afghan children run after kites near a destroyed tomb in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, May 13, 2011.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (L) and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai attend a luncheon at the presidential palace in Kabul May 12, 2011. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hopes to ease India's concerns that Osama bin Laden's death may hasten a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan during a visit to Kabul that began on Thursday. REUTERS/Musadeq Sadeq/Pool (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS)

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN - MAY 11: Men who were injured in Tailban attacks are treated in Mirvays Hospital May 11, 2011in Kandahar, Afghanistan. After the start of their annual spring offensive across the country, hundreds of Tailiban militants have begun to try and overrun several security posts meeting heavy defense from Afghan security forces. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

An Afghan man prays under a tree outside Kabul May 11, 2011. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY IMAGES OF THE DAY)

EDITORS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Afghan forces look at a Taliban fighter's body who was killed during the past two days assault in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, May 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

An Afghan border police force fires to the Taliban fighters who are hidden at the Traffic Department building with smoke rising on rooftop in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, May 8, 2011. The Taliban unleashed a major assault Saturday on government buildings throughout Afghanistan's main southern city, an attack that cast doubt on how successful the U.S.-led coalition has been in its nearly yearlong military campaign to establish security and stability in the former Taliban stronghold. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

A US armored military vehicle is parked near a building which was attacked by Taliban fighters in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, May 8, 2011. Afghan security forces clashed with militants in Kandahar for a second day on Sunday after the Taliban unleashed a major assault on government buildings in the southern city, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

U.S. General David H. Petraeus, left, commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) meets with special forces in Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan, Sunday May 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Heidi Vogt)

In this handout photo provided to Reuters May 8, 2011 by ISAF Regional Command (South), U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Cesaitis secures a grape drying facility on May 8, as members of Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul and the U.S. Department of Agriculture visit a village near the city of Qalat in the Zabul Province of Afghanistan. REUTERS/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson-USAF/Handout (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Afghan villagers surround the body of a man who was allegedly killed in a U.S. operation in Surkhrod district, near Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, May 7, 2011. Villagers claimed that U.S.-led coalition forces killed the man and arrested two persons. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

US Marines Corporal Joshua Boston (L) from Combat Operation Patrol (COP) Bandini of 2nd Marine 8 Batallion (2/8) Weapons Company 81's Platoon interogates an Afghani youth (C) after he got caught telling the insurgent of Afghanistan National Police operation location in Sistani, Helmand Province, on May 7, 2011 as Lance Corporal Michael Horne (R) looks on. AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO (Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)

An Afghanistan National Army soldier Nur Mohammad bakes traditional bread at US Marine Combat Operation Patrol (COP) Bandini of 2nd Battalion 8 Marine (2/8) Weapons Company 81's Platoon in Sistani, Helmand Province, on May 7, 2011. There are about 130,000 international forces deployed in Afghanistan under the leadership of the United States to defeat a Taliban-led insurgency fighting since the US-led invasion of the troubled nation in 2001. AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO (Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan youth play volleyball in an old building compound destroyed during war in Kabul on May 5, 2011. While Osama bin Laden's death may have little immediate impact on the Afghanistan war, it could bring a political solution closer by opening the door for Western talks with the Taliban, experts said. AFP PHOTO/ MANAN VATSYAYANA (Photo credit should read MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images)

Amrullah Saleh (C), Afghanistan's former intelligence chief, attends a gathering in Kabul May 5, 2011. Saleh who has launched a national campaign urging Afghans to reject a plan by President Hamid Karzai to negotiate with the insurgency, went one step further on Thursday by threatening to take to the streets. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - MAY 2: Afghans watch television coverage announcing the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at a Restaurant on May 2, 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Bin Laden has been killed near Islamabad, Pakistan almost a decade after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and his body is in possession of the United States. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

An Afghan policemen takes a look at the opening of tunnel at the main prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan which prisoners escaped through on Monday, April 25, 2011. Taliban insurgents dug a more than 1,050-foot (320-meter) tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out more than 450 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters, officials and the insurgents said Monday. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

US Marines and Navy Sergeant Trung Tran (L), First Leutenant William Kloth (3L), Corporal Joseph Albrecht (3R) and Hospitalman 3 Dylan Morris (2nd R) from Police Mentoring Team, 2nd and 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) 1st and 2nd Marine Division (Forward) walk through opium poppy fields during a meet and greet joint patrol with Afghanistan National Police in Habibullah village in Khanashin District, Helman province, on April 24, 2011. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said April 21 it was possible that 2011 could see a decisive turning point in the war in Afghanistan against Taliban insurgents. AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO (Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)

In this photo provided by ISAF Regional Command (South), U.S. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio poses for a photo with an unidentified Ohio soldier during a visit to the Arghandab Valley of Afghanistan, April 20, 2011. Boehner led a congressional delegation that met with members of the military, civilian agencies and Afghan officials to assess the ongoing military operations. REUTERS/Ensign Haraz N. Ghanbari-US Navy/Handout (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

US Army Lance Corporal Forrest Johnson of Route Clearance Platoon 3rd Light Armored Reconaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division (Forward) sleep on the desert sands next to their vehicles at Patrol Base Torbert in Banadar corridor, Garmsher district, Helmand province on April 20, 2011. The marines are on an operation to search for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) set by insurgents. AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO (Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)

US Marines from Apache Company of the Company A and Route Clearance Platoon 3rd Light Armored Reconaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division (Forward) detonate an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near Patrol Base Torbert in Banadar corridor, Garmsher district, Helmand province, on April 19, 2011. The Marines are on a two-day effort to clean a local school from Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) set by insurgents. AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO (Photo credit should read BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - APRIL 16: Afghan children take part in a performance to celebrate the second \"World Circus Day\" on April 16, 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Some 35 countries across the world are expected to host events celebrating World Circus Day, which is organised by the International Circus Federation. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

epa02690260 Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani (L) listens to Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai (R), during their meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, 16 April 2011. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who was accompanied by interior minister Rehman Malik, Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar and head of country's premier Intelligence Agency Inter Services Intelligence, Lt. General Shuja Pasha, arrived in Kabul on 16 April, for a one-day visit to discuss security issues, including the situation on the Pakistan-Afghan border. EPA/S. SABAWOON

U.S. Army soldiers approach a local man for questioning during a patrol near the village of Sai'dano Kalache in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar April 15, 2011. REUTERS/Bob Strong (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS)

A wounded Afghan lies on a bed in the main hospital of Asadabad in Kunar Province on April 13, 2011, after he was injured in a suicide bomb attack in Asmar district in east of country. A suicide attack ripped through a gathering of tribal elders in eastern Afghanistan, killing 10 people, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. The bomber struck in Kunar, one of Afghanistan's most restive provinces and an insurgent stronghold on the border with Pakistan, where Taliban-led militants fighting the Afghan government and US-led troops have rear bases. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)

A new mosque sits next to a U.S.-Afghan military post in the village of Tarok Kalache in the Arghandab Valley, north of Kandahar April 11, 2011. The village was destroyed by U.S. war planes on October 6, 2010 after U.S. Army commanders determined it was being used as a base of operations by Taliban fighters. The U.S. government is now paying for the rebuilding of this village and two others that were also hit by U.S. air strikes. Picture taken April 11, 2011. REUTERS/Bob Strong (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS RELIGION)

TOPSHOTS Captain Elizabeth Jackson (L) from US 3rd Battalion 2nd Marine Regimental Combat Team 8 watches an Afghan boy on a swing near the town of Musa Qala in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan on April 12, 2011. Afghanistan said recently its forces would take over security in areas including the Helmand capital from NATO this summer, launching a transition as foreign troops plan an exit by the end of 2014. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)

US soldier Sgt Jessica Clymen (R) from 3rd Battalion 2nd Marine Regimental Combat Team 8 keeps watch in the town of Musa Qala in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan on April 9, 2011. Afghanistan said recently its forces would take over security in areas including the Helmand capital from NATO this summer, launching a transition as foreign troops plan an exit by the end of 2014. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. Army medic SSG Quincy Northern from \"Dustoff\" team, C Company, 1-214 Aviation Regiment, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade walks toward his medevac helicopter as it casts a shadow on a hospital wall at Camp Dwyer in Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 5, 2011. REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY HEALTH)

Afghan protestors beat a burning effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama during a demonstration in Jalalabad, Afghanistan on Sunday, April 3, 2011. Afghan protests against the burning of a Quran in Florida entered a third day with a demonstration in the major eastern city Sunday, while the Taliban called on people to rise up, blaming government forces for any violence. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan villagers with their sheep walk past the opening ceremony for a newly completed mosque in the village of Tarok Kolache in southern Kandahar province on April 1, 2011 where the US military is funding its rebuilding. In October 2010 Tarok Kolache was completely destroyed by US forces after the Taliban had ousted the villagers and mined the village and surrounding areas. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)

A general view of city is seen in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 31, 2011. \"New Kabul City\", a shiny new, multibillion-dollar project, sounds like a pipe dream to people living practically on top of each other in Afghanistan's war-battered capital, where most streets are unpaved and security forces are on constant watch for suicide bombers. But urban planners, investors and government officials working to develop the modern urban area about a 30-minute drive north of Kabul say it will be home to an estimated 1.5 million people when it's completed in 2025.(AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Afghans carrying a man, who got wounded following an attack on UN's office during a demonstration to condemn the burning of a copy of the Muslim holy book by a Florida pastor, in Mazar-i- Sharif north of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, April. 1, 2011. An Afghan official says seven people have been killed at a U.N. office in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif when a Quran burning protest turned violent. (AP Photo/Mustafa Najafizada)

Afghan labourers walk in front of a mural in the old city of Kabul on March 28. From the dusty battlefields of Afghanistan to the skies over Libya, NATO is now engaged in two conflicts with no endgame in sight, posing a test for a war-weary alliance divided over the latest campaign.

A US army Blackhawk helicopter from Alpha Company 7-101 Aviation Regiment fires protective flares whilst flying over Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan on March 25, 2011. Around 140,000 foreign troops are deployed in Afghanistan within the UN-mandated, NATO-led, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the US-led coalition Operation Enduring Freedom, which overthrew the Taliban in late 2001. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan officers listen to a speech by Afghan President Hamid Karzai at The National Military Academy in Kabul on March 22, 2011. Afghanistan said that its forces would take over security in areas including the Helmand capital from NATO this summer, launching a transition as foreign troops plan an exit by the end of 2014. Afghanistan will notably take \"full security responsibility\" for most of Kabul province, including the capital, and Lashkar Gah, the capital of the restive southern province of Helmand, President Hamid Karzai said. AFP PHOTO/SHAH Marai (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)

Aishya, an Afghan girl poses for picture on a mountain top on the occasion of Nawroz, the New Year ceremony, held at the Sakhi shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, March 21, 2011. In a speech marking the Afghan new year, Vice President Abdul Karim Khalili on Monday called on militants to lay down their weapons because the nation would never going to return to the days of hardline Taliban rule.(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Volunteers from the Afghan Red Crescent Society carry a donation box for the victims of last week's Japan earthquake and tsunami, on the streets of Kabul March 20, 2011. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY DISASTER IMAGES OF THE DAY)

In this Saturday, March 19, 2011 photo, an Afghan policeman controls the area during a patrol in Guzara district, Herat province east of Kabul, Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai is to announce a plan for the gradual handover of security duties from NATO to local forces, the Interior Ministry said. (AP Photo/Reza Shirmohammadi)

A US army soldier from Company C, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, MEDEVAC unit walks through their housing complex protected by blast walls at Kandahar airfield in southern Afghanistan on March 19, 2011. International troops in Afghanistan face the prospect of a spring offensive by the Taliban every year but this time the US-led alliance believes it could mark a real turning point in its favour. AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS (Photo credit should read PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images)

Ahmadullaha, an Afghan boy looks on as he walks past washing hung over wire in the compound of an abandoned Russian building in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, March, 18, 2011. Ahmadullaha and his family have lived in an abandoned Russian building since they returned from Pakistan, where they were refugees for years.(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

epa02633540 People who were injured in a suicide bomb attack targeting a recruitment center of Afghan National Army, receive medical treatment at a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan on 14 March 2011. A suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at a recruitment center for Afghan National Army, killing at least 37 people including children, and injuring dozens. EPA/NAQEEB AHMED

Afghan street boys burn rubbish on the shore of a river, in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, March 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

An Afghan man refreshes his rooster with a spray of water during a cock fight in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, March, 11, 2011. Owners are allowed to stop the fight temporarily to refresh their roosters, and check their wounds, before sending them into battle again. Though the fights are not to the death, the roosters are bloodied and sometimes blinded before a winner is decided. Cock fighting, an old tradition in Kabul, was banned during the rule of the Taliban. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY USMAN SHARIFI Lifestyle-Afghanistan-marriage-economy In this picture taken on March 9, 2011, young Afghan men dance during wedding celebrations at a wedding hall in Kabul. As a civil servant, Afghan Ahmad Mahfooz earns nearly 10 times the average annual salary in his impoverished homeland, but he still cannot afford to marry his fiancee. Already thousands of dollars in debt after hosting a lavish engagement party for 500 guests in December, Mahfooz says he doesn't know how he will ever afford the kind of wedding his wife-to-be and her family expect. AFP PHOTO/SHAH Marai (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)

Humera Khan, an Afghan girl poses for picture as she holds her doll in the poor neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, March, 8, 2011. More than nine years after the fall of the Taliban, most Afghan children still don't attend school and face the prospect of a life of poverty no different from their parents, and the prospects for girls is bleaker. Figures show that only about 13 percent of females over 15 years old can read or write compared to 43 percent for males. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

ADDS DATE PHOTO TAKEN - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaks to U.S. Marines during his visit to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment at Forward Operating Base Sabit Qadam in Afghanistan's Helmand province Tuesday, March 8, 2011. Gates got a first-hand look Tuesday at U.S. military progress in the most hotly contested areas of southern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Mandel Ngan, Pool)

Afghan men, some of them wearing pieces of cloth bearing the words, \"God is Great\" shout anti-American slogans during a protest against a raid by U.S. soldiers on a home in which they claim two men were detained, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Monday, March, 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - FEBRUARY: In this handout provided by the UNHCR, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Angelina Jolie, meets with Khanum Gul, 35, a mother of 8 and her youngest son, Samir at their makeshift home at Tamil Mill Bus site February 2011, in Kabul city, Afghanistan. When Angelina last visited Khanum Gul, Samir was a newly born baby of 14 days, now he's two and a half years old, but having medical problems. Tajik and Pashtun families live side by side without any major conflict at the Tamil Mill Bus site. Over 70 percent of the families are returnees from the period of 2002-2004 who were unable to achieve sustainable reintegration in their places of origin and subsequently drifted to Kabul City in search of work. A nearby school is accessible to the children but the poor economic circumstances of the many families oblige them to send their children out to work. Low levels of literacy, particularly amongst the women, limit their access to employment other than the lowest paid daily labour wage. (P

A wounded Afghan man looks on as others examine the wreckage of a car after an explosion in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011. Twin bomb blasts killed eight Afghans on Sunday at an illegal dog fight in the volatile south, officials said. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

Would-be suicide bomber Akhtar Nawaz, 14, from South Waziristan, Pakistan, speaks as Lutfullah Mashal, spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, right, looks on during a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Feb, 26, 2011. The Afghan intelligence service announced the arrests of a Pakistani boy and two teenagers - one from Afghanistan and the other from Pakistan - who claimed they had been coerced into becoming would-be suicide bombers. All three appeared at a news conference and recounted stories of how militants forced them into becoming suicide attackers for the insurgency. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

A Chinook helicopter lands to pick up U.S. soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division following a night raid in Yahya Khel, Paktika province, Afghanistan on Feb. 21. The night raid is a controversial tactic that has been stepped up dramatically since General David Petraeus took over running the Afghan war last year, despite strong opposition led by President Hamid Karzai. Petraeus says the pressure on suspected insurgents and their networks has brought a new dynamic to a near-decade-old war. Critics argue it is fuelling violence because poor intelligence means dozens of innocent people are killed or detained. Although more than 80 percent of recent raids ended without a shot being fired, violence escalates fast when it does break out, with 600 people killed on operations in the three-month period.

A mother touches her wounded son after a suicide attack in Emam Saheb district of Kunduz province February 21, 2011. A suicide bomber killed at least 30 people in a government office in northern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said, with violence spiralling across the country even before an expected spring offensive. REUTERS/Wahdat (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CONFLICT)

A boy, injured during a NATO air strike, lies on a hospital bed in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province February 20, 2011. Joint operations by Afghan forces and NATO-led foreign troops killed 64 civilians in Kunar, including many women and children, over the past four days, the governor of Kunar said on Sunday. REUTERS/Stringer (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Smoke rises from the area where three Taliban suicide bombers burst into a branch of Kabul Bank and detonated their devices on February 19, 2011 in Jalalabad. Eight people were killed and 56 others wounded, including police chiefs, in an attack claimed by the Taliban on a bank in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan. The incident is the latest in a string targeting police in Afghanistan, who alongside the army are due to take control of security from 2014, allowing most international troops to withdraw. AFP PHOTO / Pajhwok Afghan News / STR (Photo credit should read Pajhwok Afghan News/AFP/Getty Images)

US Marines 2nd Batallion,1st Marines share a light moment with Afghan children as US Marines with Female Engagement Team (FET) members visit a sewing centre during a visit to a village in Gamser, Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan on February 18, 2011. The US Marines have deployed some 40 female Marines in Helmand province and Nimruz for a programme called Female Engagement Team (FET) to interact with Afghan civilians specifically women and children. AFP PHOTO/ADEK BERRY (Photo credit should read ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)

LCPL. James Edward Orr, 20, from the First Battalion Eighth Marines Alpha Company lifts weights made from barbed wire at a makeshift gym at an outpost in Kunjak in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, February 17, 2011. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT IMAGES OF THE DAY)

An Afghan bird vendor stands amongst his cages at the Bird Street Market in Kabul on February 15, 2011. On February 15, 1989 the Soviet occuopation of Afghanistan came to an end with the completion of the final withdrawal of troops. AFP PHOTO / DMITRY KOSTYUKOV (Photo credit should read DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

epa02584109 Afghans survey the scene where Taliban militants attacked on 12 February, targeting police headquarters in Kandahar, Afghanistan on 15 February 2011. Seventeen people - 15 policemen, an Afghan army soldier, and a civilian - were killed and 60 others wounded on 12 February, in attacks by Taliban militants in Kandahar. Afghan security forces killed four suicide bombers, while one wounded insurgent was detained. EPA/HUMAYOUN SHIAB

epa02582243 An Afghan woman walks on a snow-covered path in Kabul, Afghanistan on 14 February 2011. Afghanistan is currently experiencing a harsh spell of snow-fall and winter during which regular daytime temperatures fall to minus 15 degrees Celsius or lower across the country. EPA/S. SABAWOON

An Afghan policeman keeps watch at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul February 14, 2011. A suicide attacker on Monday targeted a downtown Kabul hotel, the Safi Landmark, that was hit by a similar assault nearly a year ago, killing at least three people and wounding several others, Afghan and Western officials said. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY CRIME LAW IMAGES OF THE DAY)

A private Afghan security man guards a neighborhood in the center of Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011. Taliban insurgents wearing explosive vests attacked the police headquarters on in Kandahar Saturday, unleashing an arsenal of car bombs, automatic rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenades. At least 18 people where killed, most of them police officers. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

In this photo taken Feb 12, 2011 Ahmad Wali Karzai, left, half brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai talks to an aid during an interview with the Associated Press at his house in Kandahar. An Afghan official says Afghan President Hamid Karzai's half brother has been killed in southern Afghanistan. Zalmai Ayubi, the spokesman for Kandahar province, says that Ahmad Wali Karzai was shot dead on Tuesday July 12, 2011. Ahmad Wali Karzai, who was head of the Kandahar provincial council, had become a political liability for the Karzai government _ a symbol of cronyism and a lightning rod for criticism of all that is wrong with the Karzai administration. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - FEBRUARY 8: Afghan President Hamid Karzai holds a press conference at the Presidential Palace on February 8, 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Karzai called on his Western allies to close down civil-military provincial reconstruction projects (PRT's) that have served their purpose, likening the PRT's to a 'plumber' whose services were no longer required. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

A US Marine from 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Bravo company launches an FMG-148 Javelin anti-tank missile at Mirage patrol base, Musa Qala District, Helmand province on February 8, 2011. There are around 140,000 international troops, two-thirds of them from the United States, in Afghanistan fighting the militant Islamist Taliban. AFP PHOTO / DMITRY KOSTYUKOV (Photo credit should read DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Wreckage of a bicycle, in which the bomb was placed lies on the ground at the scene of an explosion in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011. A bomb placed in the bicycle exploded, and left two injured, police officials said in Jalalabad. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghans carry the casket containing the body of Malam Awal Gul an Afghan prisoner who died in at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Cuba last week, during a burial ceremony in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, Feb. 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan men meet with US Marines from 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Bravo company at new Mirage patrol base, Musa Qala District, Helmand province on February 6, 2011. US-led NATO troops are under a deadline across Afghanistan to train local forces to take responsibility for their country's security by 2014. AFP PHOTO / DMITRY KOSTYUKOV (Photo credit should read DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Australian Defence Force engineers carry the casket of their friend and colleague Cpl. Richard Atkinson at Multinational Base Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province February 5, 2011 in this photo provided by ISAF Regional Command (South). Atkinson was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED), during a joint patrol with the Afghan National Army in the Tangi Valley on February 2, 2011. REUTERS/Christopher Dickson/Australian Department of Defense/Handout (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY OBITUARY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Security personnel examine the damaged vehicle belonging to the deputy governor of Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, after an attack in Kandahar city, in this image taken from video, January 29, 2011. A suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed Deputy Governor Abdul Latif Ashna and wounded at least five others on Saturday, officials said. REUTERS/Reuters TV (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS)

CORRECTS SPELLING IN OBJECT NAME - An injured woman is escorted out of a supermarket Friday, Jan. 28, 2011 in central Kabul, Afghanistan. An explosion has rocked a grocery store frequented by foreigners in Kabul. Police officers at the scene say they don't know what caused Friday's blast. There was no immediate word of casualties. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

epa02550211 Afghan parliamentarians pray during the opening of the new parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan on 26 January 2011. President Hamid Karzai opened country's second post-Taliban parliament amid tight security and in the wake of political wrangling between the president and lawmakers that plunged the country deeper into crisis. EPA/S. SABAWOON / POOL

An Afghan man walks his camels in the desert near Marjah in the volatile Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A mine clearing specialist from the French Foreign Legion 1st section \"Les Aigles \" (the eagles) of the 2nd REG (Régiment étranger du génie) searches for improvised explosive devices (IED) on a road near Tagab in Kapisa Province on January 25, 2011. The French Foreign Legion, a military unit established in 1831, was created for foreign nationals of any nationality wishing to serve in the French armed forces. AFP PHOTO/Joel SAGET (Photo credit should read JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

TOPSHOTS- A Hungarian legionnaire from the French Foreign Legion 1st section \"Les Aigles \" (the eagles) of the 2nd REG (Régiment étranger du génie) inspects an Afghan man on motorcyle near Tagab in Kapisa Province on January 25, 2011. The French Foreign Legion, a military unit established in 1831, was created for foreign nationals of any nationality wishing to serve in the French armed forces. AFP PHOTO/Joel SAGET (Photo credit should read JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

A French soldier from the 7th Mountain Infantry Battalion (7eme bataillon de chasseurs alpins BCA) holds up leaflets to be distributed to local villagers showing the difference between ISAF soldiers and insurgents, during a patrol near Tagab in Kapisa Province on January 25, 2011. France is \"determined\" to keep troops in Afghanistan despite a threat from Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden linking their mission to the fate of French hostages, the foreign ministry said January 21. AFP PHOTO/Joel SAGET (Photo credit should read JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

epa02546661 An Afghan man buys burqa on a roadside in Herat city, western Afghanistan, 24 January 2011. According to media reports, despite the progress of the past few years, Afghanistan's economy is in shambles and highly dependent on foreign aid, agriculture and trade with neighboring countries. Much of the population continues to suffer from shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care and jobs. EPA/JALIL REZAYEE

An armoured vehicle of US Marines from 1st Battalion 8th, Bravo is seen in front of The Milky Way Galaxy (R) during an operation not far from Shir Chazay in Musa Qala district of Helmand province on January 23, 2011. A 140,000-strong force of NATO-led international troops stationed in Afghanistan currently fighting Taliban-led insurgency is now entering its tenth year. AFP PHOTO / DMITRY KOSTYUKOV (Photo credit should read DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Afghan men shout slogans during a demonstration against paliamentary election results in Kabul on January 23, 2011. A plan for Afghan President Hamid Karzai to open a new parliament this week looked in question as an official source said his attendance was \"conditional\" and fresh talks with lawmakers were announced. The source, speaking anonymously, told AFP that Karzai's attendance on January 26 depended on lawmakers accepting the authority of a Supreme Court special tribunal on electoral fraud in September's parlimentary polls. \"What's being said about the opening of the parliament on Wednesday, that's conditional,\" the source said. AFP PHOTO/Massoud HOSSAINI (Photo credit should read MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images)

A convoy of United States military supply vehicles is seen from the air traveling in the desert near Lashkar Gah, in central Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Friday, Jan. 21, 2011. (AP Photo / Kevin Frayer)

An Afghan man wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED) is transported to hospital in a helicopter of the United States Army' Task Force Shadow \"Dust Off\", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment near Lashkar Gah, in central Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Friday, Jan. 21, 2011. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Afghan men rush wounded men to a helicopter for medevac by United States Army's Task Force Shadow \"Dust Off\", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment following the explosion of an insurgent placed improvised explosive device near Marjah in the volatile Helmand Province, Southern Afghanistan, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011. At least five Afghan civilians were injured in the blast, military sources said. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

US Marines from 1st Battalion, 8th Marines greet an ANP soldier as they return from patrol around the town of Musa Qala on January 18, 2011. The top US military officer said January 12 he sees an increase in bloodshed in Afghanistan as allied forces step up their offensive against the Taliban. AFP PHOTO / DMITRY KOSTYUKOV (Photo credit should read DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

United States Marines and Afghan soldiers prepare to move a wounded man to a waiting helicopter of Task Force Shadow \"Dust Off\", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment, prepares a stretcher as United States Marines and Afghan Army soldiers run with a wounded Afghan man to a waiting medevac helicopter near Marjah in the volatile Helmand Province, Southern Afghanistan, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Afghan girls practice during a boxing training session around a small training room at the Kabul stadium, in Kabul on January 17, 2011. The first women's boxing league started four years ago, coached by Saber Sharifi who is the Afghan men's boxing coach. The young Afghan boxers, who are just beginning to learn the sport, are trained three times a week with the idea of putting together a real team for matches by end of 2011. The young women are training in Afghanistan to fight in Islamic dress at the 2012 London Olympics. AFP PHOTO/SHAH Marai (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (C) meets with U.S. troops in Maidan Wardak province January 11, 2011. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS)