AP Photo 23 hours ago

Map locates Marjah in Helmand province, Afghanistan, where a U.S./Afghan offensive against Taliban militants is imminent.

Pakistan Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud (L) is seen with his arm around Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud during a news conference in South Waziristan in this May 24, 2008 file photo. Pakistan's military said on January 31, 2010 it was investigating a report that Hakimullah was killed in...

AP Photo 1 week ago

The body of a Taliban fighter, who was killed in Friday's gunbattle with Afghan forces, is carried to the office of Afghan Red Crescent Society to be transported to his village, in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010.

Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud (C) sits with other millitants in South Waziristan in this October 4, 2009 file video grab taken from footage released October 5, 2009. The head of the Taliban in Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsud, has been killed in a US drone attack, Pakistan state television...

Pakistan Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud (L) is seen with his arm around Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud during a news conference in South Waziristan in this May 24, 2008 file photo. The head of the Taliban in Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsud, has been killed in a US drone attack, Pakistan...

AP Photo 1 week ago

The body of a suspected Taliban fighter lies on the ground asurrounded by security forces soon at the end of a fierce gun battle in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. A fierce gun battle broke out between security forces and a team of Taliban fighters targeting U.N....

An Afghan policeman takes up position where the Taliban gunmen are holed up in a building in Helmand province January 29, 2010. In the country's south, suicide attackers launched an assault in the capital of Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province, and gunmen were holed up in a building...

AP Photo 1 week ago

A U.S. Army 120mm mortar team barrages a nearby Taliban position, at Combat Outpost Michigan, in the Pech Valley, Kunar province, northeastern Afghanistan, Thursday Jan. 28, 2010. The soldiers from the 2-12 Infantry, Task Force Lethal at COP Michigan regularly receive small and large-arms...

AP Photo 4 days ago

In this image taken from video on Friday Feb. 3, 2010, reportedly showing Taliban militants flogging a person in the Pakistani tribal area along the Afghanistan border. This new video has emerged which was purportedly filmed Feb. 3, shows a senior Taliban commander meting out a brand of traditional...

Muslims attend Friday prayers under a snowfall at the Central mosque in Almaty February 5, 2010. A vast region wedged between China, Iran, Afghanistan and Russia, Central Asia found itself on the frontline of global affairs last year when it agreed to host a vital new supply route for NATO...

Getty Images 1 week ago

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - FEBRUARY 2: Afghan men watch an afternoon Indian film at a theater, that like all movie houses, was closed during the Taliban takeover, February 02, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Despite years of foreign involvement and the money being committed to Afghanistan from both...

AP Photo 1 week ago

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 1998 file photo, Jalaluddin Haqqani, then Taliban Army Supreme Commander talks to reporters in Miram Shah, Waziristan, Pakistan. Pakistan's links with Taliban leaders believed based in the country could prove vital to the Afghan government's renewed push to make peace...

AP Photo 1 day ago

A Pakistani police officer stands with alleged militants, who stand hooded in police custody on Monday, Feb. 8, 2010, in Lahore, Pakistan. Police say they have arrested six suspected Taliban militants, who were allegedly on their way to attack U.S. tourists at a five-star hotel in Pakistan's...

AP Photo 2 weeks ago

As the military base takes impacts from Taliban positions as they fire recoilless artillery rounds and machine gun fire into the base, a soldier with a U.S. Army mortar team runs to his firing position, where his team returned fire with a series of 120mm mortar rounds, at Combat Outpost...

AP Photo 2 weeks ago

As the Taliban fire their own artillery and machine guns, the impacts from U.S. mortar return fire can be seen on the mountainside above Combat Outpost Michigan, in the Pech Valley, Kunar province, northeastern Afghanistan, Thursday Jan. 21, 2010. The soldiers from the 2-12 Infantry, Task...

A British soldier is seen holding on to the turret gun of a manoeuvring armoured vehicle in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, February 8, 2010. Coalition forces are expected launch a major assault in central Helmand in the upcoming days to seize the area from Taliban.

AP Photo 2 weeks ago

As his base takes impacts from Taliban positions who are firing recoilless artillery rounds and machine gun fire, U.S. Army Sgt. Thomas Stoddard, from Virginia Beach, Va. , far left, commands his mortar team as they return fire with a series of 120mm mortar rounds, at Combat Outpost Michigan,...

AP Photo 1 week ago

This photo taken Jan. 31, 2010 shows Qari Mohebulla Nakarar, left, and Fazel Rahman Farouqi, former pro-Taliban fighters, pose for a photograph while holding their newly-surrendered Soviet-era weapons, at an Afghan government-run reconciliation office, in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, east...

A British soldier listens to Brigadier James Cowan during his visit to Military Operating Base Shorabak in Helmand province, Afghanistan February 7, 2010. British soldiers and Afghan troops practiced their battle plans ahead of a major NATO offensive to seize central Helmand from Taliban.

A British soldier kneels as Brigadier James Cowan and Afghan commanders visit the troops in Military Operating Base Shorabak in Helmand province, February 7, 2010. Thousands of British troops and U.S. Marines are expected to lead a major offensive to seize central Helmand from Taliban.

AP Photo 2 days ago

An Afghan police man searches the trunk of a car, which arrived from Marjah at a check post in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010. Telegraphing the Marjah offensive has raised concerns that the Taliban might plant more...

AP Photo 2 days ago

An Afghan policeman searches a passenger of a mini bus, who arrived from Marjah at a check post in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010. Telegraphing the Marjah offensive has raised concerns that the Taliban might plant...

Afghan families drive on tractors as they flee Marjah and the surrounding areas in southern Helmand province, February 7, 2010. Hundreds of Afghan villagers have fled their homes ahead of a massive NATO offensive in the south of the country, an official said on Sunday, with many reporting...

Afghans walk past a shopping centre, burnt after a Taliban attack, in Kabul January 19, 2010. Taliban gunmen launched a brazen assault on the center of Kabul on Monday, with suicide bombers blowing themselves up at several locations and militants battling security forces from inside a shopping...

AP Photo 3 days ago

General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) and Commander of United States Forces in Afghanistan, center left, and Mark Sedwill, the newly appointed NATO's Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, shake hands with media members after...