Afghan war: portraits from the ground

19 May 2003: A girl cries in fear as an American soldier approaches to search her house in a village during Operation Deliberate Strike Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

15 October 2006: A US soldier checks machine-gun sights at an outpost near Camp Tillman, Afghanistan Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

16 October 2006: Army snipers on patrol pass young Afghans in Mundi Kalai in the Paktika province Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

21 November 2006: Jim McKnight says, "It's war, and it's dangerous and, yes, I've lost soldiers. But, for the most part, we don't think of ourselves in danger on a daily basis. I'm the one with the air support, supplies and intelligence that updates by the minute. The enemy has none of that stuff. Sure, we're afraid sometimes, but I'm afraid of letting my dad drive a standard transmission [car], too." Photograph: Chad Hunt/Corbis

23 November 2006: Forward Operating Base, Korengal outpost, Afghanistan Photograph: Chad Hunt/Corbis

24 November 2006: Taliban insurgents Photograph: Veronique de Viguerie

29 February 2007: Royal Marine commandos are extracted successfully by a Royal Air Force CH47 helicopter from Garmsir, Helmand province Photograph: Getty Images

9 April 2007: Specialist Adam Holmgren of the 82nd Airborne's 1/508, Alpha Company, Third Platoon on guard duty in Sangin, Helmand province Photograph: Max Whittaker/Corbis

11 April 2007: Specialist Jacob Allen of the 82nd Airborne's 1/508 PIR, Alpha Company, Third Platoon takes a smoke break near Sangin, Helmand province Photograph: Max Whittaker/Corbis

11 April 2007: After a day of walking, searching for and fighting Taliban forces in very hot and humid conditions, Sergeants Jeremy Johnson, (left) and Ryan Doolittle (right) take a break near Sangin, Helmand province Photograph: Max Whittaker/Corbis

30 June 2007: An Afghan girl lies on a hospital bed in Helmand province after being injured in an air strike by coalition forces fighting the Taliban Photograph: Abdul Qodus/Reuters

16 October 2008: The bodies of Afghans allegedly killed in an air strike in Lashkar Gah Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

7 May 2008: Afghan men are searched before attending a shura, or meeting, with US soldiers outside Spera combat outpost in Khost province Photograph: John D McHugh/Guardian

26 July 2008: Army Brigadier General Raymond Palumbo, Task Force 373 commander, walks with Major Nathan Meade and Captain William Roedl, 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, out to an F-15E Strike Eagle at Bagram air base, Afghanistan Photograph: SSgt Samuel Morse/PA

30 October 2008: A US army helicopter gunner, his helmet face painted with a skull, awaits soldiers to board his Chinook transport helicopter for transfer out of the Korengal valley of eastern Afghanistan Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

19 February 2009: Sergeant Jarod Schroeder with the Army 1-6 Field Artillery division holds his bandanna in the wind while resting near the top of a mountain while looking for a Taliban rocket launching site in the vicinity of the remote village of Main in Nuristan province Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

23 March 2009: A US counter-intelligence marine and his translator meet with local Afghan villagers in Kirta Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

12 April 2009: A US soldier from 1st Infantry Division holds a rosary during an Easter mass at the Raider Chapel in ISAF's Camp Bostick in Naray, in the eastern Kunar province Photograph: Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images

17 January 2009: Taliban militants with their weapons in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan Photograph: Reuters

27 March 2009: An Afghan man watches British Gurkhas on foot patrol in Musa Qala Photograph: Omar Sobhani/Reuters/Corbis

28 March 2007: Sergeant Doolittle of the 82nd Airborne's 1/508 Alpha Company and his squad ride a Chinook back to Forward Operation Base Diablo after a mission in remote Kandahar province Photograph: Max Whittaker/Corbis

11 May 2009: Soldiers from the US 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 Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

5 July 2009: US marines from the 2nd MEB, 1st Battalion 5th Marines are illuminated by a fire in which they burned their rubbish, as they settle in for the night in an abandoned compound in the Nawa district Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

16 June 2009: Haqqani Taliban fighters in their mountain camp in eastern Afghanistan Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

11 July 2009: Taliban fighters in a madrasa compound near the northern city of Kunduz Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

12 August 2009: A US soldier of 2-12 Infantry 4BCT-4ID Task Force Mountain Warrior takes a break during a night mission near Honaker Miracle camp at the Pech valley of Kunar Province Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

6 September 2009: An Afghan victim of Nato airstrikes targeting Taliban militants in Kunduz receives medical treatment at a hospital in Kabul Photograph: EPA

26 August 2009: A US marine keeps watch at night in the base in Khan Neshin, Helmand province Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA

15 October 2009: A German soldier mans a checkpoint in Balkh Photograph: Michael Kappeler/AFP/Getty Images

26 October 2009: US soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division fire mortars in the Pech valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

6 October 2009: Soldiers from the US Army's Charlie troop, 371 Cavalry, 3rd brigade of 10th Mountain Division based in Fort Drum, New York, prepare to leave Cop Cherokee base to go on patrol in Kherwar district in Logar province Photograph: Nikola Solic/Reuters

7 November 2009: A US soldier from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division takes an overwatch position on a mountain top in the Pech valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Photograph: David Guttenfelder/AP

16 November 2009: A US soldier stands in a recreation area at a new detention centre at the US Bagram air base, north of Kabul Photograph: Reuters/Corbis

19 December 2009: A US soldier from Task Force Denali Platoon 1-40 CAV patrols at Manzai village in Khost province Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters/Corbis

20 December 2009: US marines attached to the 2nd Battalion 2nd Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina control crossroads at dusk in Garmsir district of Helmand province while pursuing militants after being attacked earlier in the morning Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters

Notorious Libyan fighter and al-Qaida leader Abu Laith al-Libi, killed by a CIA drone in Pakistan Photograph: AFP/Getty

General Hamid Gul, director general of Pakistan's ISI agency between 1987 and 1989, at his home in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad. He is claimed in separate logs to have been involved in plots to attack Nato troops and kidnap UN staff Photograph: Declan Walsh/Guardian