Afghanistan Wartime Architecture August 2010
Part 1
 

An Afghan man rides his bicycle past the International Assistance Mission (IAM) in Kabul August 7, 2010. Eight foreign medical workers, including "several" Americans, were killed by gunmen in Afghanistan's remote northeast, police and officials said on Saturday, with the attack claimed by the Taliban. Reuters

Afghan families, hit by the floods which have devastated Pakistan, work to rid their homes of mud, on August 7, 2010 in the south of Kabul, Afghanistan. More than 500 hundred families have been forced to evacuate their homes due to flooding, which has originated from the country's border with Pakistan. The deadly flooding across Pakistan, has claimed the lives of more than 1,600 people and has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes, in what is the country's worst floods since 1929. Aid organisations estimate that over 12 million people have been affected by flooding. Getty

US Senior Conmander in Afghanistan Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez (C) drinks a beverage during a meeting with Afghan officers and local authorities at the US base in Arghandab Valley in Kandahar's province of Arghandab on August 7, 2010. The Pentagon has urged whistleblower website WikiLeaks to 'do the right thing,' calling on the site to hand over thousands of leaked US military documents and halt future public releases. Some 70,000 classified documents on Afghanistan were published by WikiLeaks in late July 2010. The files contained a string of damaging claims, including allegations that Pakistani spies met directly with the Taliban and that deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of international forces were covered up. Getty

Improvised gym equipment is seen as US Soldiers of Bravo Company 2/508th PIR, 4th BTC, 82 Airborne (Air Assault) sleep at an under-construction base in Kukaran in Kandahar province on August 6, 2010. The Pentagon on August 5 urged whistleblower website WikiLeaks to 'do the right thing,' and return thousands of leaked US military documents and stop any future public releases. Some 70,000 classified documents on Afghanistan were published by WikiLeaks in late July. The files contained a string of damaging claims, including allegations that Pakistani spies met directly with the Taliban and that deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of international forces were covered up. Getty

US Soldiers of Bravo Company 2/508th PIR, 4th BTC, 82 Airborne (Air Assault) sleep on cots with bug netting at an under-construction base in Kukaran in Kandahar province on August 6, 2010. The Pentagon on August 5 urged whistleblower website WikiLeaks to 'do the right thing,' and return thousands of leaked US military documents and stop any future public releases. Some 70,000 classified documents on Afghanistan were published by WikiLeaks in late July. The files contained a string of damaging claims, including allegations that Pakistani spies met directly with the Taliban and that deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of international forces were covered up. Getty

US Soldiers of Bravo Company 2/508th PIR, 4th BTC, 82 Airborne (Air Assault) sleep on cots under tarps at an under-construction base in Kukaran in Kandahar province on August 6, 2010. The Pentagon on August 5 urged whistleblower website WikiLeaks to 'do the right thing,' and return thousands of leaked US military documents and stop any future public releases. Some 70,000 classified documents on Afghanistan were published by WikiLeaks in late July. The files contained a string of damaging claims, including allegations that Pakistani spies met directly with the Taliban and that deaths of innocent civilians at the hands of international forces were covered up. Getty

US soldiers of Bravo Company 2/508th PIR, 4th BTC, 82 Airborne (Air Assault) sleep on cots under makeshift awnings at an under-construction base in Kandahar province's Kukaran on the morning of August 5, 2010. Amid growing US discontent over the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama defended the conflict August 2, saying progress was being made towards important security goals. Getty

US soldiers of Bravo Company 2/508th PIR, 4th BTC, 82 Airborne (Air Assault) sleep on cots under makeshift awnings at an under-construction base in Kandahar province's Kukaran on August 5, 2010. Amid growing US discontent over the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama defended the conflict August 2, saying progress was being made towards important security goals. Getty

A US soldier of Charlie Company 2-508 PIR 2nd Platoon members of the 2nd BTC, 101st ABN Div. (Air Assault) searches a house during a joint patrol with members of the Afghan National Army in Arghandab Valley in Kandahar Province on August 3, 2010. Amid growing US discontent over the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama defended the conflict, saying progress was being made towards important security goals. Getty

A US soldier of the 2nd BTC, 101st ABN Div. (Air Assault) carries his breakfast at Arghandab Base, province of Kandahar on August 4, 2010. A Taliban suicide squad armed with bombs and rockets attacked the largest US military base in southern Afghanistan, leaving one NATO soldier and two civilians injured. Getty

A US soldier of Charlie Company 2-508 PIR Second Platoon of the Second BTC, 101st ABN Div. (Air Assault) tries to joke with Afghan children during a joint patrol with National Security Forces in the Arghandab valley of Kandahar province on August 3, 2010. Amid growing US discontent over the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama defended the conflict Monday, saying progress was being made towards important security goals. Getty

A US soldier takes position at a house dugin a patrol with Charlie Company 2-508 PIR 2nd Platoon and members of the 2nd BTC, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and the Afghan National Army in Arghandab Valley in Kandahar Province on August 3, 2010. Amid growing US discontent over the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama defended the conflict August 3, saying progress was being made towards important security goals. Getty

An Afghan National Army soldier searches a house during a joint patrol with US soldiers of Charlie Company 2-508 PIR 2nd Platoon members of the 2nd BTC, 101st ABN Div. (Air Assault) in Arghandab Valley in Kandahar Province on August 3, 2010. Amid growing US discontent over the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama defended the conflict, saying progress was being made towards important security goals. Getty

US soldiers of Charlie Company 2-508 PIR 2nd Platoon members of the 2nd BTC, 101st ABN Div. (Air Assault) search a house during a joint patrol with members of the Afghan National Army in Arghandab Valley in Kandahar Province on August 3, 2010. Amid growing US discontent over the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama defended the conflict, saying progress was being made towards important security goals. Getty

US soldiers of Charlie Company 2-508 PIR 2nd Platoon members of the 2nd BTC, 101st ABN Div. (Air Assault) during a joint patrol with members of the Afghan National Army in Arghandab Valley in Kandahar Province on August 3, 2010. Amid growing US discontent over the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama defended the conflict, saying progress was being made towards important security goals. Getty

US soldiers of Charlie Company 2-508 PIR 2nd Platoon members of the 2nd BTC, 101st ABN Div. (Air Assault) interrogate an Afghan man during a joint patrol with members of the Afghan National Army in Arghandab Valley in Kandahar Province on August 3, 2010. Amid growing US discontent over the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama defended the conflict, saying progress was being made towards important security goals. Getty

US armoured vehicles from 2nd Brigade Combat Team 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) leave the Arghandab base in Kandahar province on August 3, 2010. Amid growing US discontent over the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama defended the conflict August 2, saying progress was being made towards important security goals. Getty

Afghan hospital workers use a stretcher to carry the body one of six Kabul Bank security guards who were beheaded during a bank robbery in Mazar-i-Sharif on August 3, 2010. Robbers poisoned and beheaded six security guards in a brazen bank heist in the north of Afghanistan, a police official said on August 3. The gang struck late August 2, in Marzar-i-Sharif city, capital of Balkh province, stealing more than 275,000 dollars in US and Afghani currency, said Balkh deputy police chief Abdul Raof Taj. Getty

Hazara Afghan women pray at a shrine in Bamiyan on August 2, 2010. Bamiyan, some 200 km (124 miles) northwest of Kabul, stands in a deep green and lush valley stretching 100 km through central Afghanistan, on the former Silk Road that once linked China with Central Asia and beyond. The town was home to two nearly 2,000-year-old Buddha statues before they were destroyed by the Taliban, months before their regime was toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001. Getty

An election worker, left, registers an Afghan woman for giving her a voting card as others wait for their turn at a voter registration center in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010. Afghans will go to the polls for parliamentary elections in September. AP

Hazara Afghan women cook in a kitchen at a shrine in Bamiyan on August 2, 2010. Bamiyan, some 200 km (124 miles) northwest of Kabul, stands in a deep green and lush valley stretching 100 km through central Afghanistan, on the former Silk Road that once linked China with Central Asia and beyond. The town was home to two nearly 2,000-year-old Buddha statues before they were destroyed by the Taliban, months before their regime was toppled in a US-led invasion in late 2001. Getty

Afghans visit men injured in an attack on a presidential adviser in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 2, 2010. Militants attacked the second government official in the east on the same day. The convoy was hit by a remote-controlled bomb hidden in a rickshaw as it was driving through city, police said. AP

Civilian contractors from developing countries including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka ,India and the Philippines sort laundry on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 2, 2010. Kandahar Airfield is the largest military base in southern Afghanistan and has a population by some estimates of at least 20,000 soldiers and civilians, and has many of the same services of a small American city. AP

Demonstrators use a loudspeaker to chant slogans during a rally in Kabul August 1, 2010. Hundreds of Afghans chanting anti U.S. and NATO slogans staged a peaceful rally against the killing of civilians in Afghanistan on Sunday. Reuers

Afghan protesters hold placards during a demonstration against U.S. forces and NATO in Kabul, Afghanistan Sunday, Aug 1, 2010. More than 400 demonstrators have marched toward the presidential palace in Kabul to protest the alleged killing of 52 civilians by a NATO rocket strike in the south. NATO has disputed the report of civilian deaths. AP

British soldiers suntan outside their living quarters on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. Kandahar Airfield is the largest military base in southern Afghanistan and has a population by some estimates of at least 20,000 soldiers and civilians, and has many of the same services of a small American city. AP

In this photo taken Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010 a dusty tent is seen that houses Canadian troops on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. Kandahar Airfield is the largest military base in southern Afghanistan and has a population by some estimates of at least 20,000 soldiers and civilians, and has many of the same services of a small American city. AP

Soldiers withdraw cash from an automatic teller machine shop inside the 'PX', a large store which caters to the needs of combat soldiers and civilians who live on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. Kandahar Airfield is the largest military base in southern Afghanistan and has a population by some estimates of at least 20,000 soldiers and civilians, and has many of the same services of a small American city. AP

The barricaded and razor wire fence of the boundary of Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. Kandahar Airfield is the largest military base in southern Afghanistan and has a population by some estimates of at least 20,000 soldiers and civilians, and has many of the same services of a small American city. AP

Soldiers eat dinner in a T.G.I. Friday's restaurant located on Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Saturday, July 31, 2010. Kandahar Airfield is the largest military base in southern Afghanistan and has a population by some estimates of at least 20,000 soldiers and civilians, and has many of the same services of a small American city. AP