Afghanistan 2013

                SOURCE  : www.boston.com

Afghanistan: January 2013

Our nation's presence in Afghanistan made its way back to the collective conscience last week when Afghan President Hamid Karzai appeared in a joint press conference with President Barack Obama. This post features a few images of daily life from late December and the first few weeks of January. Simple things - shelter, food - remain challenges for many of the Afghan people - displaced by years and years of conflict and war. -- Paula Nelson ( 30 photos total)

An Afghan woman stands to receive winter supplies at a UNHCR distribution center for needy refugees at the Women's Garden in Kabul, Jan. 2, 2013. Hundreds of families living in makeshift shelters around the Afghan capital collected blankets, charcoal and other supplies as authorities struggle to avoid last year's deadly winter toll. With temperatures dropping to -10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit) at night in the city, the 35,000 refugees who live in the snow-covered camps face a battle to survive dire conditions protected only by plastic sheeting. Despite Afghanistan receiving billions of dollars of aid since 2001, more than 100 children died last year during the harshest winter in two decades. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)

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Pigeons fly outside Shah-e-Doshamshera's mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 24, 2012. (Ahmad Nazar/Associated Press)#

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Afghan boys play on a frozen lake in Kabul, Jan. 9, 2013. (Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)#

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Hayatullah, 35, who like most Afghans goes by only one name, carries a bag of cooked rice left over from customers in a Kabul restaurant, Jan. 9, 2013. Hayatuallah lost a leg to a land mine in Shamali plain, north of Kabul during the deadly Afghan civil war of 1991-1996. Afghanistan is still one of the heavily mined countries in the world despite international efforts to clean the poverty-nation from millions of mines that were planted by the former Soviet ary between 1979 and 1987, followed by a deadly civil war between Afghan faction that defeated the Russian and Taliban who rulled the troubled country between 1996 and 2001 and now waging an insurgency against the NATO forces and use roadside bombings, improvised explosives devices as a main weapon in their war tactics. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A woman mourns after loosing her son and brother in an explosion in Sayedabad, Wardak southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 13, 2013. An explosion killed seven Afghan villagers as they tried to pull bodies of insurgents killed from the rubble of a village mosque after a night raid by NATO and Afghan troops in the country's east, officials said. Four insurgents and an Afghan soldier were also reported to have been killed. (Rahmatullah Nikzad/Associated Press)#

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An Afghan family walks on a road in winter on the outskirts of Kabul, Jan. 3, 2013. (Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)#

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An Afghan worker looks out from a window at a fruit factory which was destroyed by a car suicide bomb attack, in Kabul Dec. 21, 2012. When a Taliban suicide bomber killed two people on the edge of the Afghan capital this month, there was another casualty - a global fruit juice business optimistically called "Spring Wish" which provided work for thousands of farmers across the country. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)#

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An Afghan girl looks through the window of a residence, Dec. 26, 2012. Over a third of Afghans are living in abject poverty, as those in power are more concerned about addressing their vested interests rather than the basic needs of the population, a UN report said. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images)#

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Afghan burqa clad women look in a store in Herat, Jan. 8 ,2013. Over a third of Afghans are living in abject poverty. (Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)#

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Afghan women are transported in the back of a three wheeled motorbike after receiving a sack of flour each, donated by the women's affairs department, in the Gozara district, Herat province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 26, 2012. The women's affairs department of Herat province donated a sack of flour to around 250 families in the Gozara district. (Hoshang Hashimi/Associated Press)#

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An Afghan rickshaw driver smiles as he drives in the cold weather in Kabul, Dec. 31, 2012. (SHAH Marai/AFP/Getty Images)#

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An Afghan beggar sits on the ground on a street in Herat, Jan. 8 ,2013. Over a third of Afghans are living in abject poverty. (Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)#

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Afghan children warm themselves around fire on a cold day in Kabul, Jan. 8, 2013. Despite Afghanistan receiving billions of dollars of aid since 2001, more than 100 children died last year during the harshest winter in two decades. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)#

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A vendor sells traditional food at a local market in Kabul, Jan. 7, 2013. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)#

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Afghan children sell handicrafts to a NATO soldier during a monthly bazaar at the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters in Kabul, Jan. 5, 2013. Analysts have warned the country could plunge into another large-scale civil war after the NATO-led force departs by 2015. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)#

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Afghan internal refugee children work at a traditional brick factory on the outskirts of Herat, Jan. 7, 2013. In 2012 alone, spreading conflict in Afghanistan has forced more than 166,000 Afghans to flee their homes, bringing the total number of people internally displaced by conflict to at least 460,000 since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. Conditions for the displaced have fallen well below international standards, according to a 2012 study by the Norwegian Refugee council. (Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)#

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Afghan security officials arrested 8 Taliban militants who were trying to smuggle bomb making material on Kandahar Highway and displayed them to the media, Dec. 26, 2012. (Naweed Haqjoo/EPA)#

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A laborer sorts wheat flour sacks to be distributed among Afghan vulnerable families threatened by Afghanistan’s harsh winter weather, by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 2, 2013. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) says more than two million Afghans throughout the country are at risk from extreme weather this winter. During the 2011 Winter, more than 30 Afghans - most of them children - froze to death when the country witnessed one of the harshest winters in the past 15 years with record snowfall. (S. Sabawoon/EPA) #

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Afghan vulnerable families threatened by the Afghanistan’s harsh winter weather wait to receive winter goods distributed by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 2, 2013. (S. Sabawoon/EPA)#

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Afghan boys play in snow, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 28, 2012. (S. Sabawoon/EPA)#

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A local resident transports shovels during a heavy snow fall, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 28, 2012. (S. Sabawoon/EPA)#

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Afghan displaced families receive winter goods distributed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 27, 2012. More than 2 million Afghans are at risk from extreme weather this winter. (S. Sabawoon/EPA) #

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Displaced Afghani children wait to receive winter goods distributed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 27, 2012. (S. Sabawoon/EPA) #

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Burkha-clad women of displaced afghani families arrive to receive winter goods distributed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (S. Sabawooon/EPA) #

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An Afghan girl holds an umbrella as she walks on a snowy day on the outskirts of Kabul, Dec. 27, 2012. (Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)#

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An Afghan internally displaced girl stands in the falling snow at a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec, 27. 2012. Temperatures dropped to 1 degree Celsius (34 degrees Fahrenheit) in Kabul. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press) #

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An Afghan man walks with his goat in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 27, 2012. (Ahamd Jamshid/Associated Press) #

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A dove caretaker feeds white doves in front of the blue mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, Dec. 18, 2012. It is believed that whoever releases a white dove will have a wish come true. (Maurizio Gambarini/EPA) #

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during a news conference in Kabul, Jan. 14, 2013. A decision on immunity for U.S. troops staying in Afghanistan after the 2014 planned withdrawal will be made by the end of the year, Karzai said. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters) #

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U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai shake hands at the conclusion of a news conference at the White House in Washington, Jan. 11, 2013. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) #

Afghanistan War 2009

The coffin of Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps Lance Daniel Geary carried from a military aircraft during a ceremony at Griffiss International Airport, the city of Roam, New York, Thursday, March 26, 2009. Stand near his family: cousin Dawn Roux, father Michael Geary and mother Aggie Geary. 22-year-old corporal, was killed the week before in Afghanistan. Relatives before burial decided to send flowers to your home . (AP Photo/Observer-Dispatch, Nicole L. Cvetnic) (AP Photo / Observer-Dispatch, Nicole L. Cvetnic)

Top view of the Afghan village set among fields of opium poppy and wheat.   Farah province, Afghanistan, March 17, 2009. (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)

 Canadian soldier Pte Chris Kezar from 7th November Company platoon NATO coalition rests after heavy fighting with the Taliban.  Zhari district in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, March 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) (REUTERS / Stefano Rellandini)

 American patrol 6.1 units of field artillery in the area where the Taliban movement have been seen.  February 18, 2009 in Gandalabog, Afghanistan. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images (Spencer Platt / Getty Images

 A boy from a small village of shepherds herding goats. February 27, 2009 in Afghanistan's Nuristan province. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

 U.S. Marine Sergeant Nicholas Bender launches unmanned reconnaissance plane Raven on the perimeter of the naval base March 21, 2009, near a remote Afghan village Bakwa.  Marines from 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment use the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to real-time monitoring of the movement of the Taliban. Marines operating in Farah province in south-western Afghanistan, where the onset of spring, the cases of attacks on U.S. troops. (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)

Afghan woman in a burqa walks through the old bazaar in Kabul, March 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) (REUTERS / Ahmad Masood)

 Boeing C-17 U.S. Air Force dropping parachutes loaded with military supplies.  Parachutes blown off course by the wind, and they landed on a field of opium poppies. 2March 22, 2009 near the U.S. naval base in remote Qalanderabad in southwest Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)

Haji Abdul Khan, the owner of the opium fields, shows the United States Marine Corps and military translator poppy field, which was damaged by a cargo of military supplies.  March 22, 2009 near the U.S. naval base in remote Qalanderabad in southwest Afghanistan. Marines assured Khan that he had to pay compensation for the damage caused to the military.  As reported by military sources, the movement "Taliban" often gets from farmers percentage of profits to finance operations against U.S. troops, but the Air Force does not have the sanction to destroy poppy crops and also count on the fact that farmers supplying them information about the activities of "Taliban." (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)

Afghan miners in a coal mine in Karkar Puli Khumri about 170 km north of Kabul, March 7, 2009. Karkar mine, which involved 280 people, produces about 100 tons of coal per day. Wages of miners - from $ 70 to $ 110 per month. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) (REUTERS / Ahmad Masood)

The U.S. military has questioned Afghans during an operation to search for militants "Taliban", who last night fired missiles at a military base in Nuristan province. 18 февраля 2009. February 18, 2009. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

 The corpse of Taliban killed in battle in Ghazni March 26, 2009.  As the press-secretary of the provincial governor, Said, four were killed by rebels movement "Taliban", and seven policemen and two civilians were injured during the battle near the city of Ghazni, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Kabul. (REUTERS/Shir Ahmad) (REUTERS / Shir Ahmad)

  The representative of the Marine Corps Intelligence and his interpreter talk with residents Afghan village.  March 23, 2009 at Kirti, in a remote region in the south-western Afghanistan. Тут явно нужны услуги перевода . There is clearly need translation services . (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)

Main. Sergeant Darin Hendricks Field Artillery Unit 1.6 looks into the small cave during an operation to search for the secret base of the Taliban in the immediate vicinity of the remote village Main. February 19, 2009, the Afghan province of Nuristan. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

 Small Afghan Mohammed Amin sells balloons on a field in Kabul, on Friday, February 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) (AP Photo / Rafiq Maqbool)

Kabul, Monday, February 23, 2009.  CCW doctor told me that the main mission of the organization is to provide the best possible care with disabilities in the region. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) (AP Photo / Rafiq Maqbool)

 Marine and an Afghan policeman during a joint patrol.  March 26, 2009 near the town of Bakwa in southwestern Afghanistan.  Marines 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment patrol the area, often with Afghan police. Local farmers who grow opium poppies and wheat, they say that because of the presence of Marines in the region, which used to be controlled by the "Taliban", it is much safer. At night were Taliban fighters continue to impose road homemade : explosives. (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)

 American M-4 rifle on sandbags at an observation post.  March 30, 2009, a settlement near Novzad district of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.  Marines from 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment browsing the front line.  In contrast to many other areas of the country in which U.S. troops were mainly conducted operations against the guerrillas in the region Novzad movement "Taliban" and U.S. forces are waging battles. (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)

 Former fighters movement "Taliban" with heavy machine guns and hand during the ceremony of transfer of arms to the Government of Afghanistan to the Afghan city of Herat in the west. Tuesday, March 10, 2009.   About 40 militants movement "Taliban" of Herat province handed over their weapons to the Government of Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Fraidoon Pooyaa) (AP Photo / Fraidoon Pooyaa)

 Salt mine workers Takcha Khan in Namak Aab district of Takhar province, which is located in the north-east of Kabul. 10 марта 2009. March 10, 2009.  Mine, where salt is mined using primitive hand tools and transported by donkeys, produces more than 23 tons of salt per year. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) (REUTERS / Ahmad Masood)

A soldier from the 2nd Regiment of the British Army gurkhskogo cleans his weapon on Patrol Base Vokab in Musa Qala, Helmand province March 27, 2009. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani) (REUTERS / Omar Sobhani)

 Marine watches lightning flashes on the horizon during an operation to search for militants of the movement "Taliban" March 25, 2009 near the village of Bakwa in a remote area in the south-western Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)

Through the glass hearse seen as veterans salute. The funeral procession carries the coffins of dead British soldiers in Afghanistan: Corporal Dean John, Corporal Graham Stiffy and Lance Corporal Chris Harket in Wootton Bassett, England. Saturday, March 21, 2009.  Hundreds of people took to the streets to bid farewell to the dead. (AP Photo/Dominic Lipinski) (AP Photo / Dominic Lipinski)

 Canadian soldiers carry the coffins of their compatriots at the airfield of Canadian joint task force in Kandahar, March 21, 2009.   As the Canadian Brigadier General Jonathan Vance, four Canadian soldiers and a local Afghan interpreter were killed on Friday, stepped on a roadside mine. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) (REUTERS / Stefano Rellandini)

 Family and friends of Jack Buzilera, sergeant of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, during the ceremony for the transfer of the body at a military base in Trenton, Ontario, Monday, March 23, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Peter Redman) (AP Photo / The Canadian Press, Peter Redman)

Lieutenant General David Hantun Jr., on his knees, reports the American flag Nicole Bunting, the widow of Captain Brian M. Bunting. 16  March 16, 2009, the National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Bunting died Feb. 24 in Kandahar of wounds inflicted by the explosion of a homemade bomb. (AP Photo/Хараза Н. Ghanbari) (AP Photo / Haraza N. Ghanbari)

 American transport helicopter CH-53 flies over Farah province March 17, 2009 in the south-western Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)

 (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) Canadian soldiers from the NATO coalition in the bottom of a dry river in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, which is a stronghold of the movement "Taliban. Picture taken March 12, 2009. (REUTERS / Stefano Rellandini)

Canadian gunners NATO coalition forces in a helicopter CH-146 Griffon, which flies over Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan. 27 марта 2009. March 27, 2009.

Canadian air gunner NATO coalition forces opened fire with a machine gun from a helicopter CH-146 Griffon, which flies over Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, March 27, 2009. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) (REUTERS / Stefano Rellandini)

 Naseem, a drug addict, who sits on heroin last 5 years, in the abandoned Russian Cultural Centre, which collects junkies.  February 8, 2009, Kabul.  With the increase in unemployment in Kabul, a growing number of drug addicts, because drugs are very cheap here: 50 afghanis, or $ 1 per shot.  Afghanistan is passed on more than 90 percent of the world's supply of heroin. страны. Annual opium harvest is estimated at nearly $ 3 billion, which is about half the official gross domestic product. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) (Paula Bronstein / Getty Images)

An Afghan security officer stands guard during an operation on the incineration of drugs on the outskirts of the city in Herat province, west of Kabul. Среда, 18 марта 2009. Wednesday, March 18, 2009.  During the operation, burned more than two thousand kilograms of drugs, which included heroin, opium and cannabis, as well as several bottles of alcohol. (AP Photo/Fraidoon Pooyaa) (AP Photo / Fraidoon Pooyaa)

  Riders play Buzkashi, the Afghan national game.  Neighborhood of Kabul, Friday, March 20, 2009.  Buzkashi literally  means "capture goat."  The goal - as long as possible to keep the "shell game", which serves as a headless carcass of a goat. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) (AP Photo / Rafiq Maqbool)

 Afghan man with a sick son waiting to take the French doctors of the 27th Battalion of Alpine shooters. February 19, 2009, Forward Operating Base Morales-Frazier in Nijrab, Kapisa province. (JOEL Saget/AFP/Getty Images) (JOEL Saget / AFP / Getty Images)

Британский военнослужащий во время пеш British soldier during a foot patrol in the poppy field in Musa Qala, Helmand province. 28 марта 2009. March 28, 2009. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani) (REUTERS / Omar Sobhani)

Marines in the abandoned town in the district Novzad Helmand. March 31, 2009.  Military commanders say the civilian population fled during the clashes between British troops and militia movement "Taliban" a few years ago, leaving a ghost town.  Currently, there are battles between U.S. Marines and the Taliban. (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)

 March 2, 2009 in Bagram, Afghanistan. Currently in Bagram are about 600 people who are suspected of involvement in a terrorist war against the United States.   After President Barack Obama ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, planned to spend about $ 60 million to expand the prison at Bagram almost doubled. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

 An Afghan policeman stands near the body of a suicide car amid the wreckage, near the U.S. base at Bagram, north of Kabul, March 4, 2009. A few seconds before the terrorist ran to the car and blew himself up right at the main gate of Bagram air base.  Several military injured in the blast. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) (REUTERS / Ahmad Masood)

 One platoon of soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group of the coalition led by NATO shakes hands with an elderly man. . Arghandab district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, March 30, 2009. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) (REUTERS / Stefano Rellandini)

  Afghan girls in the classroom at school keep English textbooks 16 February 2009 in the village Sandarva in eastern Afghanistan.  The Taliban are fighting with schools for girls, as a radical branch of Islam, which they profess to prohibit education for women.  Across the country, a lot of girls who attended the school, were killed, wounded, doused with acid or intimidated. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

 Afghan boys play in the snow.  Yesterday in Kabul two days chalk blizzard, as a result, the airport was closed Mestre. 13 февраля 2009 года. February 13, 2009. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) (Paula Bronstein / Getty Images)

 Afghan children stand in their tents in a refugee camp.  Camp crowded with people who have fled their homes because of the fighting in Helmand province.  February 10, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) (Paula Bronstein / Getty Images)

U.S. Marines patrol during a sandstorm March 22, 2009 in a remote Qalanderabad in southwest Afghanistan. (John Moore/Getty Images) (John Moore / Getty Images)