Afghanistan Wartime Women May 2010
 

A personal photograph is taped to the back of U.S. Army Corporal Michael Pursel's headstone on Memorial Day in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery May 31, 2010 in Arlington, Virginia. Pursel was one of six soldiers killed by a roadside bomb in Baqubah, Iraq in 2007. Section 60 is where troopers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried. This is the 142nd Memorial Day observance at the cemetery. Getty

A young woman lays down on the grave of U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Noah Pier on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery May 31, 2010 in Arlington, Virginia. Pier was killed Feburary 12, 2010 in Marja, Afghanistan. This is the 142nd Memorial Day observance at the cemetery. Getty

Family members of troops fallen in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq listen as Vice President Joe Biden speaks at Arlington National Cemetery, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 31, 2010, in Arlington, Va. AP

Members of the Afghanistan women's national boxing team leave a gym after a training session at the National Stadium on May 3, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. After facing years of restrictions and oppression during the period of Taliban rule, Afghan women are again able to make use of sports clubs and private gyms and the national boxing team have sets their sights on competing at the London 2012 Olympics. However, in what is a highly segregated society in which Islam and clerics maintain extensive influence, there remain social constraints on where women can express themselves outside of schools or universities and access to sporting facilities remain limited. Getty

Monica McNeal (R) cries as she hugs the mother of another killed U.S. soldier after they crossed paths in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, May 27, 2010. Lance Corporal Eric Ward, a fourth-generation U.S. Marine and the 19-year-old son of McNeal, was killed in Afghanistan on February 21, 2010. The United State is commemorating Memorial Day this weekend. Reuters

Afghan children come out of their house to greet Canadian soldiers with the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment, patrolling the area around Salavat, Panjwayi district, southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 30, 2010. AP

A Kuchi nomadic tribal woman helps her family gather their flock of sheep and goats at the end of the day on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 26, 2010. AP

An Afghan girls pumps water to get something to drink during a hot day on May 25, 2010 in Chahar Darreh, Afghanistan. Germany has more than 4,500 military forces in Afghanistan as part of the US-led International Security Assistance Force. Amid growing public resentment towards the prolonged mission in Afghanistan, the German parliament, the Bundestag, voted in February for extension of Germany's military mission in Afghanistan and the deployment of additional 859 troops. Getty

In this photo made available Saturday, May 22, 2010, by the British Forces Broadcasting Service, British soccer player David Beckham poses Senior Aircrafts Man SAC Madeline Rowe from RAF Odiham, during his visit to Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. David Beckham flew to Afghanistan for a surprise visit to boost morale for the thousands of British troops stationed there. AP

Monica McNeal (R) wipes a tear as a U.S. Marine plants a U.S. flag at the headstone of her 19-year-old son Eric Ward's grave in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery near Washington May 21, 2010. Lance Corporal Eric Ward, a fourth-generation U.S. Marine, was killed in Afghanistan on February 21, 2010. The United State is commemorating Memorial Day this weekend. Reuters

ISAF civilian and military personnel sit in a shelter during a ground and rocket attack by militants at Kandahar Air Field May 22, 2010. Several NATO troops were wounded when Taliban militants fired rockets at Kandahar airfield in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, and there were fears insurgents may have entered the base, the alliance said. The rocket and mortar fire was followed by a ground attack on the massive base in the Taliban's spiritual capital where NATO forces are preparing a series of offensives to wrest control of the province. Reuters

Britain's Foreign Secretary, William Hague (L), is seen being greeted during a visit to Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in this May 23, 2010 handout photograph. Reuters

Serena Kisselhoff, left, gets a hug while the casket containing the body of her father Denis Kisseloff is carried to the hearse from St. Joseph Catholic Church after his funeral Mass on Saturday, May 22, 2010 in St. Louis. Kisseloff died May 14 when his unit was attacked with a rocket propelled grenade and fire from small arms in Afghanistan. AP

Students find it hard to keep their umbrellas straight against a gust of win as they return after attending classes in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 12, 2010. AP

Burqa-clad Afghan women walk against the wind during a sandstorm following rain in central Kabul, on May 16, 2010. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend an international conference on Afghanistan due to be held in the capital, Kabul, in July, Afghan officials said. Getty

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C), Defense Secretary Robert Gates (3rd L) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen (2nd L) are pictured at a news conference by U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai in the East Room of the White House in Washington May 12, 2010. Obama and Karzai met at the White House on Wednesday in a show of unity aimed at patching over differences at a pivotal time in the nearly nine-year-old war. Reuters

German Bundeswehr army soldiers with the 3rd company of the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) listen during a briefing before a mission in a combat outpost in Chahar Dara district in the outskirts of Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, May 11, 2010. Reuters

Afghan school girls receive treatment in a hospital after falling ill in a suspected poisonous gas attack at a school in Kabul May 11, 2010. Dozens of schoolgirls in Afghanistan were admitted to hospital on Tuesday after two suspected poisonous gas attacks on schools, officials said, the latest in a spate of similar incidents. Reuters

A mother sits bedside of her daughter, a victim of an alleged gas attack, at a hospital in Kunduz, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, May 11, 2010. Regional public health chief Azizullah Safer said the incident resembled several other suspected gas attacks last week at girls' schools in Kunduz and the Afghan capital, Kabul. Officials believe they have been carried out by militants opposed to education for girls. AP

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. , covers up with a scarf during a light rain as she arrives for a dinner with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai at Vice President Joe Biden's official residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory, in Washington, Wednesday, May 12, 2010. AP

In this May 11, 2010 photo, William Harvey a classical violinist from Indiana, is reflected in a mirror as he teaches students at the National Institute of Music in Kabul, Afghanistan. In this city where music was illegal less than a decade ago, a new generation of children is being raised to understand its joys. AP

Queen Elizabeth II speaks with Lieutenant Garth Banks from the Grenadier Guards after presenting the regiment with their new colours on May 11, 2010 in London, England. The Queen paid tribute to the families of Grenadier Guardsmen killed while fighting in Afghanistan and comrades wounded in action as she presented the regiment with new colours today. Getty

A burqa-clad Afghan woman walks past posters in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, May 10, 2010. AP

Canadian Army Cpl. Michael Primerano of Toronto with Task force 1-10, 73 Charlie secures a check point in Mian Joie village in Arghandab valley in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, May 10, 2010. Taliban militants announced that a new offensive will begin from Monday and would target foreign troops, Afghan government officials, and foreign diplomats with suicide and roadside bombings. Reuters

Afghan women walk by U.S. Army soldiers with the 1st platoon, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, patrolling in Mian Joie village during a security operation in Arghandab valley in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, May 10, 2010. Taliban militants announced that a new offensive will begin from Monday and would target foreign troops, Afghan government officials, and foreign diplomats with suicide and roadside bombings. Reuters

A taxi loaded with passengers in a trunk, drives by in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, May 10, 2010. AP

Family and friends attend a deployment ceremony for soldiers deploying to Afghanistan on May 10, 2010 in Centennial, Colorado. A dozen Colorado Army National guardsmen volunteered to be sent to Afghanistan to work with fellow ISAF troops from Slovenia to train and mentor Afghan National Army soldiers. Expanding Afghan security forces has become a cornerstone of Pentagon's new war strategy ahead of a planned drawdown of U.S. forces beginning in the summer of 2011. Getty

Fernande Motte de Raedt, the defence lawyer for Malika El Aroud, talks to the media at the Justice Palace in Brussels May 10, 2010. A Belgian court on Monday sentenced El Aroud and her current husband Moez Gasalloui to eight years in prison for leading a terrorist organisation that sought fighters for training camps on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Gasalloui is still at large. Reuters

secure an area in Mainjui village in Arghandab valley where members of the Afghan National Police found an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), some 10 kms (6 miles) northwest of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan May 6, 2010. U.S. forces are massing on the outskirts of Kandahar for the biggest military offensive of the nearly nine-year-old war, in the hope of turning the tide against a strengthening Taliban insurgency. Reuters

An Afghan woman holds a placard reading "Afghan and Iranian people suffer the cost of executed people from criminal leadership" during a protest condemning last month's public execution of Afghan prisoners in Iran, who were arrested allegedly for drug trafficking, Thursday, May 6, 2010, in Kabul, Afghanistan. AP

Afghan girls take their daily Quranic lessons inside a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 2, 2010. AP

Afghan women sit on the ground near their relative's grave at a cemetery in Kabul on May 4, 2010. The US military has ordered 850 troops to Afghanistan to fill a shortage of trainers for security forces, as European allies needed more time to deploy their instructors, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Getty