Photo Gallery A War Without End
An Afghan army soldier poses after taking a swim in the Kandahar Province. The recently leaked documents portray Afghan security forces as the hapless victims of Taliban attacks.
A US Marine under fire from the Taliban: The leaked reports, from troops engaged in the ongoing combat, were tersely summarized and quickly dispatched.
No smoke without fire: Nearly nine years after the start of the war in Afghanistan the leaked documents paint a gloomy picture.
Shadow warriors: The leaks contain details about Task Force 373, a troop of US elite soldiers, who receive orders directly from the top. Their mission is to deactivate top Taliban and terrorists by either killing or capturing them.
Night watch: For years, a major effort was made to keep a lid on the details of the deployment of Task Force 373. With the leaking of the war logs on Sunday, however, their work is an open secret.
British soldiers on patrol in Helmand Province at the end of June. A hundred foreign soldiers lost their lives fighting the Taliban in June -- the highest number since the war started nine years ago.
Devil Dogs: Sergeant Paul Williams of Ohio shows off his tattooed back. Lyrics from the Dire Straits song Brothers in Arms adorn his back next to a couple of bulldogs: "Through these fields of destruction / baptisms of fire / I've witnessed all your suffering / as the battle raged higher."
American soldiers mourn a fallen comrade.
In flames: Extremists are constantly attacking coalition forces in the embattled Kandahar region. Taliban forces used a booby trap to destroy this armored vehicle.
Taliban fighters demonstrate their fire power in Ghazni Province.
American soldiers search an Afghan man working for a private security firm after finding illegal weapons in his truck.
A US military flight over the embattled Helmand Province.
Harsh terrain: An American soldier seeks shelter from a sand storm in Helmand province.
A nation's troubled history: The tomb of Sultan Mohammed Telai, which was destroyed during the Afghan civil war in the 1990s.
A lighter moment in a Kandahar military camp.
A US soldier greets a local boy during a patrol north of Kandahar. The leaked documents also detail civilian deaths during the conflict.
An improvised outdoor gym on a US military base in Helmand Province.
Another improvised gym in Zerak. The leaked documents, which mostly originate from sergeants, provide an unvarnished image of the war in Afghanistan.
A soldier with the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, mows his lawn in the northern city of Kunduz. Initially the Germans thought that the northern provinces where their soldiers are stationed would be more peaceful compared to other provinces and that the situation would remain that way.
Arriving in Kunduz: At the start of the deployment, some Bundeswehr soldiers jokingly called the small city of Kunduz "Bad Kunduz," the word "Bad" being the German word officially bestowed on spa towns. But peaceful days in Kunduz have long been a thing of the past.
German soldiers training for combat: The newly emerged documents convey an image of Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, that is still devastating because they depict a German military that stumbled into the conflict with great naiveté.
A deployment in a poppy field: US Sergeant Sean Henry observes civilians in a distance through his rifle scope.
United in war: Four American soldiers wrestle before going on a routine patrol.
United in pain: These US soldiers were wounded by an improvised explosive device.
The aftermath of a suicide attack that killed three Afghan civilians in Kabul.
Winning hearts and minds? An Afghan boy waits for medical treatment in Helmand province. British and US forces with attached medical persoonel conducted a patrol of the village with the aim of offering medical support to the local population in this 2007 archive photo.
An aerial photo taken from a US Army medevac helicopter rescuing two Marine casualties in Marjah in Helmand province.
US soldier Zachery Boyd (left) was suprised in his sleep by a Taliban attack in May 2009. The Texas native is wearing "I Love NY" boxer shorts.
US soldiers fire at a Taliban observation point.
Night operations in the Kunar province by US forces.
An Afghan prisoner captured after a US operation in Helmand province: The leaked documents indicate that US intelligence agents are constantly gathering statements from local informants, whose eagerness to please the Americans often surpasses their reliability.
After battle: The leaked documents show that America's intelligence agencies are drowning in a sea of data. Yet the most serious issues are too often overlooked: The protection of the Afghan civilians, the analysis of the political environment and the search for solution to this endless conflict.
General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, is seen retiring in late July, after being relieved of command for comments he made to a Rolling Stone reporter about President Barack Obama and his administration. His successor is General David Petraeus.
