Life and war in Afghanistan: January 2012

Our continuing photo coverage depicts Afghan life as coalition forces fight in the country.

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Jan. 30, 2012

A child rotates bricks to help them dry faster at a brick factory in Surkhroad. Thousands of children work to make money to support their families in Afghanistan.

Rahmat Gul / AP

Jan. 30, 2012

A laborer prepares flour paste to bake the flat bread at a brick factory in Surkhroad, Afghanistan.

Rahmat Gul / AP

Jan. 31, 2012

Honor guards attend a ceremony for the second phase of the authority transfer from the NATO-led troops to Afghan security forces in Qalay-e-Naw, Badghis province. The overall security transfer process is expected be completed by the end of 2014.

Shamil Azad / AP

Jan. 21, 2012

Parliament members pray at the end of the opening ceremony of the Afghan legislative body’s second year.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Jan. 25, 2012

Afghan boys play on ice on the outskirts of Kabul.

Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Jan. 22, 2012

A woman in a burka waits for alms during a snowstorm in Kabul. Despite billions of dollars donated by the foreign countries, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Jan. 22, 2012

A man pulls his cart of plastic drinking water containers during a snowstorm in Kabul.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Jan. 22, 2012

A man rides his bicycle during a snowstorm in Kabul.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Jan. 23, 2012

Women are reflected in a mirror displayed for sale in Kabul.

Ahmad Nazar / AP

Jan. 28, 2012

A German medic, part of the NATO-led coalition, examines an Afghan child. The mobile medical unit was on hand for a ceremony where more the 50 Taliban militants from Baghlan province handed over their weapons and joined with the Afghan government as part of a peace-reconciliation program.

Jawed Dehsabzi / AP

Jan. 29, 2012

A boy sits on sacks containing sandals as he waits for customers on the outskirts of Jalalabad.

Rahmat Gul / AP

Jan. 25, 2012

Girls sit in a mosque waiting for their teacher to start their daily class on reading verses of the Koran in Kabul.

Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Jan. 5, 2012

Afghan refugees look out through a gap in a cloth used as makeshift wall at a refugee camp in Kabul.

Ahmad Nazar / AP

Jan. 5, 2012

Guns, confiscated from the Garda World private security company, are shown to media in Kabul. Two British nationals and their Afghan colleagues from Garda World private security company have been detained for alleged offenses involving illegal weapons.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Jan. 2, 2012

Afghans walk along a road in Kabul.

Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Jan. 4, 2012

Boys warm themselves in the morning cold on the outskirts of Kabul.

Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Jan. 5, 2012

A disabled man walks on a wet street after a snowfall in Kabul.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Jan. 12, 2012

Mohammad Saber Yaqoti Hussaini Khedri, second right, the calligrapher of the world's largest copy of the Koran, turns a page at a ceremony in Kabul. Hussaini Khedri claims to have completed the writing of the world's largest copy of Islam's holy Koran in five years, along with nine students and the financial support of well-known Afghan figure Sayed Mansoor Naderi.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Jan. 5, 2012

Children stand near a taxi at a refugee camp after a snowfall in Kabul.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Jan. 6, 2012

Abdul Ghafar, 38, a fruit seller, waits for customers in Kabul.

Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Jan. 8, 2012

Afghans travel on a boat on the outskirts of Jalalabad.

Rahmat Gul / AP

Jan. 8, 2012

Haroon Naseri, 20, is reflected in the water as he offers prayers on the outskirts of Jalalabad.

Rahmat Gul / AP

Jan. 11, 2012

Muhammed Harom, 75, a vendor, waits for customers at his food cart in Kabul.

Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Jan. 14, 2012

A boy lets his animals graze in the Kama district, east of Kabul.

Rahmat Gul / AP

Jan. 11, 2012

Muhammed Yasin, 35, sits in a cemetery in Kabul.

Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Jan. 12, 2012

Ahmad Sharif, 21, holds balloons he is trying to sell as he walks in a street in Kabul.

Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Jan. 15, 2012

A man asks for alms in Kabul.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Jan. 15, 2012

Afghans push a car after a snowstorm in Kabul.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

Jan. 15, 2012

A man makes a snowman outfitted with body armor and a weapon after a snowstorm in Kabul.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

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