Afghanistan Wartime Architecture April 2010
Part 1
 

Afghans walk by a house destroyed in a suicide bombing the previous night in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, April 16, 2010. Fear has gripped the southern city of Kandahar ahead of NATO's upcoming offensive, with many of the residents blaming foreign troops and the Afghan government as much as the Taliban for pushing the city toward the brink of chaos _ the very thing the military hopes to reverse. AP

Afghan women are seen through the destroyed building as they carry sacks of food on head after getting it from CARE International at the food distribution center, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 15, 2010. According to CARE there are at least 10,000 war widows in Kabul, and CARE is providing them 4 liters of oil, 800 grams of salt and 9 kilograms of red beans. AP

An Afghan policeman stands guard outside the main branch of Azizi Bank in Kabul April 11, 2010. Azizi Bank has about 250,000 customers, most are ordinary Afghans or foreign and Afghan companies. Altogether the bank manages $370 million. The sum is peanuts for big global banks, but for war-ravaged Afghanistan, it is a crucial source of funding which lubricates private enterprise in a country desperate for jobs. Reuters

Afghan man poses along with his children, for a picture as local photographer unseen, takes their portrait outside the Blue Mosque, Afghanistan's most magnificent and biggest mosque, thought to be the location of the Tomb of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and the fourth Caliph of Islam, in Mazar-i-Sharif north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, April 14, 2010. AP

German Defence Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg (C) visits a memorial to fallen German army Bundeswehr soldiers at a field camp in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan April 14, 2010. Guttenberg is visiting Uzbekistan and the German Bundeswehr army soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Reuters

A goat pauses in the path of an Afghan National Army soldier while patrolling with unseen US Marines from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, after a rocket fired by Taliban insurgents fell just outside their base in Marjah on April 14, 2010. No one was wounded in the rocket attack. The number of foreign troops in Afghanistan is expected to swell from 126,000 to 150,000 in the coming months, as part of a major offensive against the Taliban in the south. Getty

Female students attend a class at Afghan Canadian Center in Kandahar city, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, April 13, 2010. Eight years after the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban from power, fear again dominates the lives of many young women and girls in the violent south, the stronghold of a revived Islamist insurgency that curbed women's rights when it ruled most of the country until the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. AP

Officials stand near partially destroyed offices of an Afghan intelligence services after three suicide bombers attacked in Kandahar city, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April. 12, 2010. Afghan forces with automatic weapons defended as the bombers attempted to scale the wall into the compound. One off the bombers detonated his explosives belt, official said. AP

Afghan President Hamid Karzai talks during a meeting with elders on April 11, 2010 in Kunduz, Afghanistan. President Karzai urged Taliban insurgents on Sunday to lay down their arms and air their grievances while visiting a violent northern province, adding that foreign forces would not leave the country as long as fighting continued. Getty

Officials stand by partially destroyed offices of an Afghan intelligence services after a three suicide bombers attack in Kandahar city , south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 12, 2010. Afghan forces with automatic weapons engaged the bombers who attempted to scale the wall of the compound, wounding one who then detonated his explosives belt, official said. AP

An Afghan street photographer, right, prepares to take a portrait of a customer with a wooden made camera in Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, April 11, 2010. AP

An Afghan man on a donkey rides past U.S. Army Humvee vehicle on a street in Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, April 11, 2010. AP

Afghanistan, April 11, 2010. No caption. Getty

Afghanistan, April 11, 2010. No caption. Getty

Paramedics and Afghan civilians carry a body of one of the five Afghan deminers killed in a road side bomb a local hospital in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, April 11, 2010. A bus carrying Afghans working for a U.S.-supported demining group was struck by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province Sunday, killing five workers and wounding 13 others. AP

Afghanistan, April 11, 2010. No caption. Getty

Afghans wounded in a roadside bomb lie on a bed at a local hospital in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, April 11, 2010. A bus carrying Afghans working for a U.S.-supported demining group was struck by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province Sunday, killing five workers and wounding 13 others. AP

Afghan policemen keep watch at the entrance to an emergency hospital in Lashkar Gah April 11, 2010. Afghan authorities have arrested three Italian workers from a medical charity as part of a plot to assassinate a provincial governor in southern Afghanistan, the governor said on Saturday. Reuters

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, center, speaks as U.S. and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal, left, and Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Wardak, right, listen to him at the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, April 10, 2010. AP

Afghans walk at a cemetery in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, April 10, 2010. AP

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai (2nd R), U.S. and NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal (R) and Afghanistan's Defence Minister Abdul Wardak (L) prepare to have lunch after a NATO briefing at the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters in Kabul April 10, 2010. Reuters

An Afghan girl waits for customers at her shop in Kabul on April 10, 2010. Almost half of school-age children in Afghanistan do not have access to education and despite a seven-fold increase in the number of children going to school in the eight years since the repressive Taliban regime was overthrown, 42 percent still do not attend or have access to schools, Karzai said. Reuters

Afghan elders listen to Marjah District Governor Haji Zahir (2 R) address a shura, or tribal council, as US Marines from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th stand guard outside in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on April 9, 2010. The United States and NATO deploy 113,000 troops in Afghanistan, with another 40,000 due over the course of the year as part of a renewed strategy that emphasises development and the 'reconciliation' of Taliban fighters. Getty

A US Marine convoy from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines steers alongside an inactive gas station in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on April 9, 2010. The United States and NATO deploy 113,000 troops in Afghanistan, with another 40,000 due over the course of the year as part of a renewed strategy that emphasises development and the 'reconciliation' of Taliban fighters. Getty

Juma Khan an internally displaced Afghan boy looks on as he sits on a handle of a water hand pump outside a UNICEF school in a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 8, 2010. According to UNHCR some 2.7 million registered Afghans refugees still remain in Pakistan and Iran. AP

Internally displaced Afghan girls smiles as they looks out from a small window of a shanty, in a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 8, 2010. According to UNHCR some 2.7 million registered Afghans refugees still remain in Pakistan and Iran. AP

An internally displaced Afghan girl hold her dog as her sister holds an ice lolly as they stand outside their tent in a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 8, 2010. According to UNHCR some 2.7 million registered Afghans refugees still remain in Pakistan and Iran. AP

Internally displaced Afghan man collects water outside his impoverished shanty at a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, April 8, 2010. According to UNHCR some 2.7 million registered Afghans refugees still remain in Pakistan and Iran. AP