2001(01 of15)
Open Image ModalOsama bin Laden is seen at an undisclosed location in this television image broadcast Sunday Oct. 7, 2001. Bin Laden praised God for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and swore America "will never dream of security" until "the infidel's armies leave the land of Muhammad," in a videotaped statement aired after the strike launched Sunday by the U.S. and Britain in Afghanistan. (credit:Al Jazeera / AP)
2001(02 of15)
Open Image ModalIn this Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2001, file picture, an Afghan northern alliance Mujahed looks at a plume of smoke rising from the Taliban village of Khanaqa in the Parwan province, from his position at the Mahmood Raqy frontline in the Kapisa province, 55 kilometers (30 miles) from the Afghan capital Kabul, after an aircraft released its load of bombs as part of the U.S. attempt to help the northern alliance to advance toward the capital and other key areas. (credit:Marco Di Lauro, AP)
2002(03 of15)
Open Image ModalIn this Sunday, Sept. 22, 2002, file picture, U.S. Army soldiers of Task Force Panther 82nd Airborne Division take a local man suspected of sheltering al-Qaeda members into questioning after seaerching a compound in the southeast region of Afghanistan. (credit:Wally Santana, AP)
2002(04 of15)
Open Image ModalUnited States Army 10th Mountain soldier Jorge Avino from Miami, Florida, carves the body count that their mortar team has chalked up on a rock March 9, 2002, near the villages of Sherkhankheyl, Marzak and Bobelkiel, Afghanistan. The team said they have killed 40 plus people, hit 12 vehicles and destroyed 1 mortar team near the villages where an al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold came under intense bombing and firefights as the coalition forces battled to root them out. (credit:Joe Raedle, Getty Images)
2003(05 of15)
Open Image ModalU.S. soldiers of the 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company of 82nd Airborne, move into a fictitious enemy position during a live fire training on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003, at a firing range near the U.S. base in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (credit:Eugene Hoshiko, AP)
2004(06 of15)
Open Image ModalAn elderly Pashtun man sits in a medical clinic in Wazakhwa as he has his blood pressure checked by a U.S. Army medic from the 25th Infantry Division in south eastern Paktika Province, Afghanistan, on September 16, 2004. The man claimed to be 100 years old. His blood pressure was normal (132 over 80) but he claimed to have a number of body aches and pains. The Army medic said it was most likely arthritis related. The medical clinic is open every day and U.S. Army medics treat on average 24 people per day. Infant mortality in Afghanistan is one of the highest in the world. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images) (credit:Robert Nickelsberg, Getty Images)
2004(07 of15)
Open Image ModalAn Afghan National Army soldier watches over detainees on March 29, 2004, during a night mission conducted jointly with the U.S. Special Forces in Shahak village in southeast Afghanistan. The deployment of the ANA to the southeast marked the first time the army had been seen by locals in this region. (credit:Darren McCollester, Getty Images)
2005(08 of15)
Open Image ModalU.S. Sgt. 1st class Rick Scavetta plays the guitar outside his barrack during Thanksgiving Day in Bagram air base, 35km (21 miles) north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005. (credit:Tomas Munita, AP)
2006(09 of15)
Open Image ModalU.S. soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, take cover as a CH-47 Chinook helicopter takes off, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Sunday, June 18, 2006. U.S. troops took positions atop a mountain ridge in southern Afghanistan on Sunday to cut off key transport routes as part of a major anti-Taliban offensive that has killed scores of suspected militants in recent days. (credit:Rodrigo Abd, AP)
2007(10 of15)
Open Image ModalAfghan national army soldier carries a rocket-propelled grenade launcher as he enters for a search after Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off near Daychopan village in Zabul province, southeastern Afghanistan,Thursday, April 5, 2007. (credit:Rafiq Maqbool, AP)
2008(11 of15)
Open Image ModalU.S. Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit try to take shelter from a sand storm at forward operating base Dwyer in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan Wednesday, May 7, 2008. (credit:David Guttenfelder, AP)
2009(12 of15)
Open Image ModalAn Afghan child looks from a doorway as the shadow of a United States Marine from the 2nd Battalion 2nd Marines "Warlords" is seen on the wall during an operation in the Garmsir district of the volatile Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009. (credit:Kevin Frayer, AP)
2009(13 of15)
Open Image ModalIn this May 11, 2009, file photo, soldiers from the U.S. Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry, take defensive positions at firebase Restrepo after receiving fire from Taliban positions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province. Spc. Zachery Boyd of Fort Worth, TX (far left) was wearing his "I love NY" boxer shorts after rushing from his sleeping quarters to join his fellow platoon members. At right is Spc. Cecil Montgomery of Many, La. and Jordan Custer of Spokane, Wash., center. (credit:David Guttenfelder, AP)
2010(14 of15)
Open Image ModalArmy PFC,Terry Heise, screams in pain as Task Force Shadow flight medics work on his leg wounds aboard a Medivac in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on October 10, 2010. At left, Army PFC Jeff Springer, and right, Sgt Rodrigo Santos, are transported with Heise by helicopter from the battlefield after an IED expoloded under the MRAP they were riding in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan. The explosion killed two other soldiers riding in the vehicle. All three survived but with lower extremity injures; one lost his foot. (credit:Linda Davidson, The Washington Post / Getty Images)
2011(15 of15)
Open Image ModalSpc. Nathan Deboard, 25, of Plano, Texas, right, and Pfc. Jason Garcia, of Orange County Calif., with the U.S. Army's Bravo Company of the 25th Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion 27th Infantry Regiment based in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, fire a 120mm high explosive mortar round at an insurgent fighting position Friday, Sept. 9, 2011 at Combat Outpost Monti in Kunar province, Afghanistan. (credit:David Goldman, AP)