Photo Gallery A False Friend
The United States is turning an increasingly critical eye to Pakistan in its bid to bring stability to Afghanistan. Here, a US Marine holds a land mine detector while on patrol in Helmand province.
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Since his election in November, US President Barack Obama has been urging his allies to stop treating the drama of the Afghanistan war as an isolated problem, but rather as a regional conflict that also has to be conducted in Pakistan.
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But with the power of the Taliban getting ever stronger, observers are asking if the West has failed in Afghanistan. Here, Taliban fighters pose in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
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Pakistan is capitulating to the Taliban in the picturesque Swat Valley, where Islamists have introduced Sharia law.
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Pakistani Taliban in the Swat Valley punish a suspected kidnapper.
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Violence against women remains a plague in Afghan society. A new law regulating women's behavior has been harshly criticized in the West. Here Afghan women in Kandahar province mark International Women's Day on March 8.
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US soldiers on patrol in eastern Afghanistan: President Barack Obama has said he is prepared to negotiate with "moderate" Taliban.
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The aftermath of a bomb attack in Kabul: The war is increasingly dominated by asymmetrical attacks with remote-controlled car bombs, buried land mines or suicide bombers on soft targets such as schools, hospitals, mosques, kindergartens and markets.
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai is increasingly unpopular among his once-allies in the West.
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A Canadian soldier enters an armored vehicle during a patrol in the Taliban stronghold of Arghandab district in Kandahar province.
Read the article: Islamist Groups Form Unholy Alliance in Pakistan
A US captain listens to the concerns of local farmers during a traditional meeting in Qalanderabad in southwest Afghanistan.
Read the article: Islamist Groups Form Unholy Alliance in Pakistan
