A displaced Afghan boy from Helmand province peeks from a window at a camp for the displaced in Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 20, 2012. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates the number of internally displaced Afghans at nearly 500,000. #

A soldier from the U.S. Army's Alpha Company, 1-12 Infantry, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, mans a weapon during a lightning storm at Combat Outpost Pirtle-King in Afghanistan's Kunar Province, on June 8, 2012. #

The crystal blue waters of lakes created by a natural dam, in Band-e-Amir National Park, stand in stark contrast to the red cliff walls and desert surroundings, on June 27, 2012. Band-e-Amir is one of only two national parks in Afghanistan. #

A bullet-riddled map of Afghanistan, painted on a wall of an abandoned Canadian-built school in Zharay district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, on June 9, 2012. #

NATO Black Hawk helicopters fly above the Spozhmai Hotel on Qargha Lake on the outskirts of Kabul, on June 22, 2012. Taliban militants armed with guns and rockets attacked the lakeside hotel overnight, seizing dozens of hostages including women and children. #

Afghans hang over a barrier, hiding from militants outside the Spozhmai Hotel on Qargha Lake where security officials say Taliban insurgents killed nearly two dozen people, most of them civilians, in an attack just north of Kabul, on June, 22, 2012. Up to 300 people were inside the hotel when the attack began. #

Afghans pray for victims of the militant attack at the Spozhmai hotel on Qargha Lake, where Taliban insurgents killed nearly two dozen people, most of them civilians, during a memorial ceremony north of Kabul, on June, 28, 2012. #

A bird's nest attached to a chain hanging from a kitchen ceiling in the Afghan security forces compound in the Zharay district of Kandahar province, on June 9, 2012. #

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kyle Niro, a scout sniper with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment (3rd Marines) Scout Sniper Platoon, places the dog tag of a fallen Marine on a battlefield cross after a memorial run at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on June 1, 2012. Marines erected the cross to honor the 116 men from the 3rd Marines who died during combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. #

An Afghan girl sits with her mother at The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) registration center on the outskirts of Peshawar on June 19, 2012, as they prepare to return to their home country after fleeing civil war and Taliban rule. About 20 percent of the population in Afghanistan are refugees. Of those abroad, there are 1.7 million Afghans in Pakistan and a million in Iran. #

A crew chief with the 451st Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron checks the engine of an F-16 with the 157th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. #

A U.S. Army paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team shows Afghan boys how to kick a soccer ball with the heel of the foot, on June 27, 2012, in Ghazni province. #

Members of "District Unknown", a heavy metal rock band, carry their musical instruments outside a classroom in Kabul, on June 11, 2012. Kabul's rock music school, which opened in May inside the small "Venue" restaurant in the Afghan capital, also reflects the return, although sometimes tentative, of social and individual freedoms since the end of the Taliban rule in 2001. #

An Osama bin Laden sticker with words that read, "An important figure," on a guitar belonging to an Afghan rock musician playing in a concert at the French Culture House in Kabul, on June 24, 2012. #

An Afghan child prepares to undergo an x-ray as a technician looks on at The French Medical Institute for Children in Kabul. According to a 2012 report by Save the Children, improved healthcare and the rise of females attending school have made Afghanistan climb up from its position as the worst place on earth to be a mother. Despite the better healthcare, some 275 children die every day in the country of 30 million. #

Widow Nicola Castle (right) and daughter Emma Pratt hold hands at the burial service of Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 John C. Pratt, of Springfield, Virginia, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on June 21, 2012. Pratt died in a helicopter crash while serving in Afghanistan. #

An Albino Afghan man poses for a portrait while waiting to procure a National Identity Card at an Afghan National Police station near the city of Mara Wara in Kunar Province, on June 25, 2012. #

A paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team fires an M240B medium machine gun at insurgent forces June 15, 2012, in southern Ghazni province, Afghanistan. #

U.S. Army Sgt. Rachael Schrecengost, a member of the 67th Forward Surgical Team, performs chest compressions on an IED victim at Forward Operating Base Farah, Farah province, on June 20, 2012. #

Staff Sgt. Vincent Benton, supply sergeant assigned to Charlie Company, 237th Brigade Support Battalion, 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, watches his daughter, Fallon, as she graduates from Northwestern High School, Albion, Pennsylvania, June 6, 2012. Benton attended the graduation via Skype and was able to share a few encouraging words with his daughter before and during the ceremony. #

France's new president Francois Hollande pays his respects during a solemn funeral ceremony for four French soldiers killed in Afghanistan at Invalides, in Paris, on June 14, 2012. Hollande decorated each of the coffins with a starred medal on a red ribbon, honoring the four posthumously as Knights of the Legion of Honor, France's highest award. #

U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Dylan Ferguson, a brigade aviation element officer with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, launches a Puma unmanned aerial vehicle June 25, 2012, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. Ferguson uses the Puma for reconnaissance for troops on the ground. #

A soldier from the U.S. Army's Alpha Company, 1-12 Infantry, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, guards a landing zone at night at Combat Outpost Pirtle-King in Kunar Province, on June 9, 2012. #

An Afghan Mi-17 helicopter on a flood relief mission crashed shortly after takeoff, on June 29, 2012 in the Ish Kumish province of Afghanistan. The helicopter was moving villagers out of the zone before crashing and landing on its side. #

Elder Razul Jan helps his son, Shera Guden, tighten a rope to hold up his pants while speaking with Lieutenant Kenneth Rowe from 4th Platoon, Dagger Company of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment during a patrol in the town of Manugay in the Pech River Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar Province June 26, 2012. Shera's eye is swollen due to a wasp sting. #

A Marine carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Cpl. Taylor J. Baune at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, on Saturday, June 16, 2012. According to the Department of Defense, Baune of Andover, Minnesota, died while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. #

U.S. soldiers assigned to 4th Platoon, Dog Company, 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment (Airborne), Task Force 4-25, conduct a patrol outside Combat Outpost Zormat, Paktya province, on June 14, 2012. The 4th Platoon was patrolling to disrupt enemy activity. #

A US Marine removes a bandolier of ammunition from his neck during a group shooting lesson for Afghanistan Uniformed Police (AUP) at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province on June 2, 2012. #