In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan

after voting for parliamentary elections on September 18, 2005. U.S. Department of Defense, Staff Sergeant Jacob Caldwell

Children peer through the damaged wall of their schoolhouse in Kabul. After the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban regime, increasing numbers of boys and girls went to school in Afghanistan. U.S. Department of Defense, Corporal Matthew Roberson

Afghan laborers build the perimeter wall at a NATO Forward Operating Base in Badghis Province. NATO completed its movement to western Afghanistan in September 2005. U.S. Department of Defense, Technical Sergeant Laura K. Smith

U.S. Army soldiers establish a security perimeter after exiting a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter near Bagram, Afghanistan, in 2005. Insurgent violence grew steadily throughout 2005 and hit unprecedented levels in 2006. U.S. Department of Defense, Specialist Harold Fields

A U.S. Marine (left) inspects a poppy plant next to an Afghan National Army soldier (right) during a patrol in Helmand Province. Poppy is most heavily cultivated in southern Afghan provinces like Helmand. U.S. Department of Defense, Staff Sergeant Luis P. Valdespino Jr.

Aerial view from a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter in Nangarhar Province near Jalalabad. Despite insurgent violence, the United States was still involved in a range of reconstruction projects in the cities and villages of Nangarhar and other provinces in eastern Afghanistan. Obaid Younossi

An F-15E Strike Eagle from the 391st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, launches heat decoys during a close-air-support mission over Afghanistan. Afghans became increasingly angry as close air support caused more civilian casualties. U.S. Department of Defense, Staff Sergeant Aaron Allmon

U.S. Ambassador Ronald Neumann (front) in Nuristan Province with Alonzo Fulgham (center), the U.S. Agency for International Development’s mission director in Afghanistan, and Governor Tamim Nuristani (back). Neumann’s father had been the ambassador to Afghanistan during the reign of Zahir Shah. Three decades later, Neumann faced the challenge of working with Hamid Karzai to establish security and eradicate corruption in the Afghan government. Photo by Jennifer Harris and courtesy of Ronald Neumann

Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, head of Combined Forces Command—Afghanistan, briefs journalists at the Pentagon on December 8, 2005. Eikenberry, who was instrumental in helping build the Afghan army, faced a “perfect storm” that hit Afghanistan in 2006 as violence levels skyrocketed. U.S. Department of Defense, R. D. Ward

Dutch soldiers in Uruzgan Province launch mortar rounds near Mirabad. While some NATO countries engaged in combat, U.S. government officials increasingly complained that most NATO countries shied away from fighting. NATO

Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, greets the Pakistani chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Kayani, aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2008. With the U.S. war in Iraq winding down, U.S. military leaders were finally able to give more attention to Afghanistan. At this meeting, they discussed a range of security issues, including Afghan insurgents operating from Pakistani soil. U.S. Department of Defense, Petty Officer 1st Class William John Kipp Jr.

An armed MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) taxis down a runway in Afghanistan on its way to a wartime mission in 2008. The United States increasingly used UAVs to target insurgents across the border in Pakistan. U.S. Department of Defense, Staff Sergeant Brian Ferguson