A U.S. Marine from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, gestures as he tries to protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, February 13, 2010. U.S.-led NATO troops launched a crucial offensive on Saturday against the Taliban's last big stronghold in Afghanistan's most violent province and were quickly thrown into a firefight with the militants.
Two 500 pound bombs explode at dusk on a Taliban fighting position near Blocking Position one above Kamdesh in Afghanistan's Nuristan Province June 11, 2012.
Marine reinforcements fly towards an area somewhere near Kandahar
December 10, 2001. The Marines have pushed closer to Kandahar to
continue their mission of interdicting lines of escape.
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U.S soldiers blows up a roadside bomb set up by Taliban fighters near the town of Walli Was in Paktika province, near the border with Pakistan, November 4, 2012.
Captain Melvin Cabebe with the US Army's 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division stands near a burning M-ATV armored vehicle after it struck an improvised explosive device (IED) near Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar July 23, 2010.
Afghan troops and soldiers with the US Army's 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division take up fighting positions after taking incoming fire at Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar July 27, 2010.
A U.S. soldier from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment pays his respects during a memorial for Specialist Wyatt Martin and Sergeant First Class Ramon Morris at Bagram Air Field in the Parwan province of Afghanistan December 23, 2014. Specialist Martin and Sergeant First Class Ramon were killed on December 12th by an improvised explosive device while on patrol near Bagram Air Field.
U.S. SPC Henry Rosenquist of 2-12 Infantry 4BCT-4ID Task Force Mountain Warrior sits in the computer room in Honaker Miracle camp at the Pesh valley of Kunar Province August 13, 2009.
Paratroopers from Chosen Company of the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry board a waiting CH-47 Chinook helicopter as they begin a helicopter assault mission at Combat Outpost Herrera in Afghanistan's Paktiya Province July 15, 2012.
Two Northern Alliance soldiers watch as the dust and smoke rises after
explosions in Taliban positions on Kalakata hill, near the village of
Ai-Khanum in northern Afghanistan, November 1, 2001. The Pentagon said
on Wednesday B-52s dropped heavy loads of bombs, a tactic known as
carpet bombing, on Taliban troops north of Kabul as a result of
improved tergeting intelligence, partly from U.S. special forces on the
ground.
U.S. soldiers attend to a wounded soldier at the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan June 30, 2015. At least 17 people were wounded in a suicide bomb attack on NATO troops as their truck convoy passed down the main road running between Kabul's airport and the U.S. embassy, police and health ministry officials said.
Ryan Lemm, 4, salutes as he is carried by New York Police Department officer John McCrossen as he watches the casket of his father, NYPD officer Joseph Lemm, who was killed on duty in Afghanistan, following funeral services in the Manhattan borough of New York, December 30, 2015. McCrossen was Lemm's partner in the NYPD Warrant Squad. Lemm was one of six U.S. troops killed by a suicide bomber near Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
A Chinook helicopter lands to pick up U.S. soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division following a night raid in Yahya Khel, Paktika province February 21, 2011. 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.
U.S. Marines, shown through a night vision scope, escort battle field
detainees into a detention center at Kandahar International Airport
December 18, 2001. Kandahar city governor Gul Agha told Reuters on
Tuesday he was preparing to launch an operation against Taliban forces
who had not surrendered and complete it within two months.
DPW
A U.S. Army soldier with Charlie Company, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division blows a bubble with his chewing gum during a mission near Command Outpost Pa'in Kalay in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province February 3, 2013.
Image used for illustrative purpose
U.S. troops from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) light candles during Christmas Eve celebrations at Bagram Airfield, north of Kabul, December 24, 2014.
Afghan policemen stand next to a captured Taliban fighter after a gun battle near the village of Shajoy in Zabol province March 22, 2008. Afghan police backed by U.S. troops killed three Taliban fighters and captured three more in a 40-minute gun battle in southern Afghanistan on Saturday. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
A U.S. soldier of 2-12 Infantry 4BCT-4ID Task Force Mountain Warrior takes a break during a night mission near Honaker Miracle camp at the Pesh valley of Kunar Province August 12, 2009.
Sgt. William Olas Bee, a U.S. Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, has a close call after Taliban fighters opened fire near Garmsir in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, May 18, 2008.
US Marines from Charlie 1/1 of the 15th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit)
fill sand bags around their light mortar position on the front lines of
the US Marine Corps base in southern Afghanistan December 1, 2001
nearby a cardboard sign reminding everyone that the Taliban forces
could be anywhere and everywhere. This sign is one of several at an
area that Charlie Company named Camp Justice on the perimiter of the
larger base.
U.S. marines fire during a Taliban ambush as they carry out an operation to clear an area in Helmand province, October 9, 2009.
Lesleigh Coyer, 25, of Saginaw, Michigan, lies down in front of the grave of her brother, Ryan Coyer, who served with the U.S. Army in both Iraq and Afghanistan, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia March 11, 2013. Coyer died of complications from an injury sustained in Afghanistan.
A group of men detained for suspected Taliban activities are held for questioning at a schoolhouse in the village of Kuhak in Arghandab District, north of Kandahar July 9, 2010.
A rocket fired by U.S. soldiers from Dragon Troop of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment explodes next to a destroyed bus at operating base Gamberi in the Laghman province of Afghanistan December 31, 2014.
Members of the U.S. Navy carry a comrade wounded by an explosion to a medevac helicopter in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan October 2, 2010.
A Stryker armoured vehicle from the U.S. Army's MGS Platoon, Alpha Company, 4-23 Infantry Battalion, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team fires a 120mm mortar during a night patrol in Kandahar April 27, 2010.
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.
A US Marine Humvee kicks up dust as it crosses a group of Marine LAVs
(Light Armoured Vehicles) as it leaves on patrol from the Marine base
in southern Afghanistan December 2, 2001. The Marines of the 15th MEU
(Marine Expeditionary Unit) arrived in southern Afghanistan November 25
night and took command of a secret airstrip, establishing a significant
military presence in Afghanistan.
U.S. soldier Nicholas Dickhut from 5-20 infantry Regiment attached to 82nd Airborne points his rifle at a doorway after coming under fire by the Taliban while on patrol in Zharay district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan April 26, 2012.
The longest war: America in Afghanistan