Life and war in Afghanistan: May 2012

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

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May 9, 2012

Pari, 33, who lost her hands 26 years ago, when her village was bombed during the former Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan, sweeps her house in Herat. She currently makes handicrafts and sells them to feed her three children and her elderly husband.

Aref Karimi / AFP/Getty Images

May 6, 2012

Afghan children study in a school in Ghazni province. More than 100 coeducational or girls' schools have closed in the province in recent weeks in what the Education Ministry says is a Taliban campaign against educating girls. The Taliban denied involvement. Afghan girls were banned from receiving an education, and women were not allowed to work or vote, during the five-year rule of the hard-line Islamist Taliban, which was toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001.

Mustafa Andaleb / Reuters

May 9, 2012

Afghan women walk after a flood in Dah Mard village of Sangcharak district in Sar-e Pul province. At least 26 people were killed and more than 100 were missing after flash floods hit a wedding party and three villages in northern Afghanistan, an official said.

Qais Usyan / AFP/Getty Images

May 8, 2012

An Afghan man looks at a dead sheep after a flood in Dah Mard village of Sangcharak district in Sar-e Pul province.

Qais Usyan / AFP/Getty Images

May 9, 2012

Most of the victims were women and children as the floods, caused by heavy rains, swept through areas of Deh Mardan district in Sari Pul province, said Fazlullah Sadat, head of the provincial disaster management authority.

Qais Usyan / AFP/Getty Images

May 9, 2012

Afghan men eat breakfast as they participate in a funeral ceremony after a flood in Dah Mard village of Sangcharak district in Sar-e Pul province.

Qais Usyan / AFP/Getty Images

May 9, 2012

An Afghan boy plays on a swing during the sunset in Herat. The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan, in the U.S.-led war against a Taliban insurgency, has risen steadily each year for the past five years, reaching a record of 3,021 in 2011. The great majority of the fatalities were caused by militants, according to U.N. statistics.

Aref Karimi / AFP/Getty Images

May 10, 2012

A park is built in the middle of a building in Kabul. Poverty and an ongoing insurgency by the ousted Taliban still pose a threat to the stability of the country.

Bay Ismoyo / AFP/Getty Images

May 10, 2012

Afghans walk under electrical wire on a road in Kabul.

Bay Ismoyo / AFP/Getty Images

May 10, 2012

Afghan students visit a historical park in Kabul that was destroyed during the civil war and then rebuilt.

Bay Ismoyo / AFP/Getty Images

May 11, 2012

Afghan boys ride their donkey through a field in Kabul.

Bay Ismoyo / AFP/Getty Images

May 10, 2012

An Afghan boy cuts kite string with his teeth as he sits on a grave at a cemetery on a hilltop in Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

A woman walks past a man sleeping in a wheelbarrow along a pathway in Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 8, 2012

An Afghan midwife looks at newborn babies at Cure International's hospital in Kabul. Better health care and more girls attending school have knocked Afghanistan from its position as the worst place on Earth to be a mother, Save the Children said in a major report. But the group stressed the precarious nature of any gains.

Mohammad Ismail / Reuters

May 9, 2012

A fisherman makes his daily catch using a rubber tube as a makeshift raft in outskirts of Kabul.

Omar Sobhani / Reuters

May 9, 2012

An Afghan woman clad in a burqa carries a metal tray in a market at the old part of Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 6, 2012

Boys jump into a river to cool themselves in Jalalabad province.

Parwiz / Reuters

May 4, 2012

An Afghan boy works at a poppy field in Jalalabad province.

Parwiz / Reuters

May 5, 2012

Raw opium from a poppy head is seen at a poppy farmer's field in Jalalabad province.

Parwiz / Reuters

May 1, 2012

A man selling live chickens waits for customers in Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 1, 2012

An Afghan man prays inside a carpet shop at a market in Kabul.

Baz Ratner / Reuters

May 1, 2012

A man sharpens scissor blades in a Kabul workshop.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 6, 2012

An Afghan woman walks next to a donkey carrying a sack of grass on its back along a road in Kabul.

Mohammad Ismail / Reuters

May 1, 2012

An Afghan man holds birds as he drinks tea inside a tea shop at the old part of Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 7, 2012

An Afghan man walks his dog along a pathway on a hill overlooking part of Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 7, 2012

An Afghan man burns charcoal as he carries a "spaand" or a traditional fire pot, at a market in Kabul. According to Afghan tradition, the smoke from the fire pot, which also contains incense, brings good luck to a person's life.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 7, 2012

People shop and sell produce at the fruit and vegetable wholesale market in Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 7, 2012

An Afghan boy walks with his donkey carrying watermelons at a market in Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 7, 2012

An Afghan vendor selling vegetables waits for customers at a market in Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 7, 2012

A man wheels a barrow full of vegetables for sale at a market in Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 1, 2012

An Afghan mechanic works at his workshop in Kabul.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

Featured Photo Galleries

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