Afghan men gather at a crowded bus stop in the center of Lashkar Gah to catch a bus to Sangin, Afghanistan, the scene of some of the most violent fighting between the Taliban and British and U.S. forces.

Afghan women shop in a crowded bazaar in the heart of Lashkar Gah, southern Helmand's provincial capital in Afghanistan. In deeply conservative Helmand women have worn the all encompassing burqas for centuries yet they too say the increasing insecurity makes them afraid even from behind their veils and shopkeepers say burqa sales are up.

An Afghan family of five leaves on a single motorbike Marjah, Afghanistan's chaotic one-street bazaar.

Afghan girls share a joke in the center of Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan.

An Afghan man gets a haircut in Marjah, Afghanistan's chaotic one-street bazaar. In southern Helmand province.

Afghan men gather in a tea house in the center of Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan.

An Afghan man waits next to the bed where his sick daughter is treated in the Boot hospital in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan. Only a few hospitals service the entire province, residents often have to travel over dangerous roads to get to the few hospitals located in the capital.

An Afghan nomad kisses his young daughter while watching his herd in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan. They say they are too afraid to go out after dark because of marauding bands of thieves and during the day corrupt police and government officials bully them into paying bribes.

The plane carrying 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani girl shot in the head by Taliban gunmen for campaigning for the right to an education, sits on the tarmac after landing at Birmingham Airport in Birmingham, central England on Oct. 15. Yousufzai will be cared for at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, a highly specialized facility where British soldiers seriously wounded in Afghanistan are treated, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Pakistanis light candles in front of a banner showing a picture of 15-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai, who was shot last Tuesday by the Taliban for speaking out in support of education for women, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Oct. 15. The banner reads,

Candles are lit in front of a portrait of Pakistani school girl Malala Yousufzai during a candlelight vigil organized by Nepalese Youth in Kathmandu on Oct. 15.

Pakistanis hold candles during a protest to condemn the attack on Malala Yousufzai in Karachi, Pakistan, on Oct. 11.

A woman lights a candle during a vigil for Malala Yousafzai in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Oct. 11.

A child holds a portrait of Malala Yousafzai during a vigil to pray for her recovery in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Oct. 11.

Pakistani school girls pray for the recovery of gunshot victim, Malala Yousufzai, in Multan on Oct. 10. Pakistani doctors removed a bullet from a 15-year-old child campaigner shot by the Taliban in a horrific attack condemned by national leaders and rights activists. The attack took place in Mingora, the main town of the Swat Valley in Pakistan's northwest, where Malala had campaigned for the right to an education during a two-year Taliban insurgency which the army said it had crushed in 2009.

Pakistani civil society activists carry placards and papers with a photograph of the gunshot victim Malala Yousufzai during a protest rally against the assassination attempt, in Islamabad on Oct. 10.

Pakistani people hold placards and candles as they pray for the well-being of Malala Yousufzai, in Lahore, Pakistan, Oct. 10. Gunmen ambushed a van carrying Malala Yousafzai and several of her schoolmates on Oct. 9 in the Swat Valley's main town of Mingora. Pakistan awarded her the first-ever National Peace Award last year in recognition for her struggle for girls education, which the Taliban banned after seizing control of the Swat valley. She was also nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize.

Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers take positions on a hill near the Spozhmai Hotel following an attack by Taliban militants at Qargha lake on the outskirts of Kabul on June 22, 2012.

Smoke rises from the hotel as NATO helicopters fly over the site of an attack on June 22, 2012.

People hide from militants outside the Spozhmai hotel on Lake Qurgha during an attack on June, 22, 2012.

Smoke rises from the Spozhmai Hotel following an attack by Taliban militants on June 22, 2012.

ANA soldiers run for cover during the hotel attack on June 22, 2012.

Afghan security forces and civilians are seen at the Spozhmai hotel after the attack on June 22, 2012.

Afghan policemen are mirrored in glass from a broken window as they stand guard outside the building where Taliban fighters launched an attack in Kabul on April 16.

Afghan special forces are seen on top of a building which had been occupied by militants, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 16, 2012.

Afghan policemen and officials stand next to the wreckage of a car used in a suicide attack in front of a building from which insurgents launched an attack, in Kabul on April 16, 2012.

An Afghan National Army soldier keeps watch near the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) as a NATO helicopter flies over the site of an attack in Jalalabad province April 15. Gunmen launched multiple attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, assaulting Western embassies in the heavily guarded, central diplomatic area and at the parliament in the west, witnesses and officials said. Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the assault, one of the boldest on the capital since U.S.-backed Afghan forces removed the group from power in 2001.

A NATO soldier runs to the scene of a attack by Taliban militants in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 15.

An Afghan policeman runs at the scene of a suicide bomb attack outside the airport in Jalalabad on April 15. Suicide bombers struck across Afghanistan in coordinated attacks, with explosions and gunfire rocking the diplomatic enclave in the capital as militants took over buildings and tried to enter parliament. Outside the capital, attackers also targeted government buildings in Logar province, the airport in Jalalabad, and a police facility in the town of Gardez in Paktya province.

Masked Pakistani Taliban militants take part in a training session in an area of Pakistan's tribal South Waziristan region along the Afghan border. Associated Press reporter, photographer and videographer Ishtiaq Mahsud spent six days with fighters from the Pakistani Taliban close to the Afghan border. His account of their travels through South Waziristan offers a glimpse into an area that the Pakistani military claimed had been brought under control following an army offensive two years ago.

Masked Pakistani Taliban militants take part in a training session in an area of Pakistan's tribal South Waziristan region along the Afghan border.

Masked Pakistani Taliban militants take part in a training session in an area of Pakistan's tribal South Waziristan region along the Afghan border.

Afghan policemen fire towards a building that Taliban insurgents took over during an attack near the U.S. embassy in Kabul on Sept. 13.

Afghan policemen carry a fellow officer who is a casualty at the site of an attack in Kabul on Sept. 14.

Afghan security forces cheer on top of a building in Kabul after all the militants, who occupied the building, were killed on Sept. 14. The 20-hour insurgent attack in the heart of Kabul ended Wednesday morning after a final volley of helicopter gunfire as Afghan police ferreted out and killed the last few assailants who had taken over a half-built downtown building to fire on the nearby U.S. Embassy and NATO compounds.

A wounded Afghan policeman is carried away from the site of an attack on offices belonging to the British Council in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 19.

A member of British security personnel, left, and an Afghan policeman walk in front of the site of an attack on offices belonging to the British council in Kabul August 19.