Newly-graduated Afghan police officers attend their graduation ceremony at a National Police training center in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on December 27, 2012. Over 177 National police officers graduated after receiving 4 months of training in Jalalabad. #

Two U.S. Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallions with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 361, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), lift M777 howitzers over Helmand province, Afghanistan, on December 29, 2012. #

An Afghan police officer talks on his telephone at the site of an explosion in Kabul on December 17, 2012. A car bomb exploded at a compound owned by a US-based construction company under contract to the Afghan army, killing at least one person and wounding 15, police said. Five foreigners including those of the US and South Africa were among the wounded, a security source at the company told AFP. #

An off duty Afghan Police officer reads a comic book with pro Afghan National Army messaging at Nawa District Police Headquarters, Helmand province, on December 16, 2012. The comic was produced as part of a campaign to reinforce confidence on the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. A closer view of the comic can be seen here. #

U.S. Specialist army Gloria Camacho with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force listens to speech of a Chaplain, as she holds her weapon at a church on Christmas Eve at the U.S. base in Kabul, on December 24, 2014. #

An Afghan woman waits to receive winter supplies at a UNHCR distribution center for needy refugees at the Women's Garden in Kabul, on January 2, 2013. Hundreds of families living in makeshift shelters around the Afghan capital Kabul collected blankets, charcoal and other supplies on January 2 as authorities struggle to avoid last year's deadly winter toll. With temperatures dropping to -10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit) at night in the city, the 35,000 refugees who live in the snow-covered camps face a battle to survive dire conditions protected only by plastic sheeting. Despite Afghanistan receiving billions of dollars of aid since 2001, more than 100 children died last year during the harshest winter in two decades, and the UN refugee agency has co-ordinated efforts to avoid repeat fatalities. #

Dutch brothers of Afghan origin Massoud (left) and Mahmud Hassani push the "mine kafon", a wind-driven gadget to clear anti-personnel mines, at their Eindhoven workshop on December 19, 2012. According to the men the inexpensive contraption could save thousands of lives in Afghanistan. #

Santa Claus, portrayed by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brian Boase, an intelligence chief, Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team "Rakkasans," 101st Airborne Division, waves to Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, before being dropped off by a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, on December 25, 2012. Boase dressed as Santa and delivered more than 200 care packages to the soldiers and civilians of FOB Salerno. #

An Afghan Policeman stands alert on a peak near his base in Goshta district of Nangarhar province, on December 18, 2012. The Afghan Local Police, branded by some critics as an incompetent Taliban-linked militia, are one of the many security challenges facing the country as international troops withdraw. Only founded in 2010, the ALP is tasked with community-level policing to suppress violence in some of Afghanistan's most dangerous and remote areas, and despite its many opponents it has had some success. #

Afghan villagers pray over the bodies of girls who were killed by an explosion in Jalalabad, on December 17, 2012. A blast killed 10 Afghan girls, between nine and 11 years old, as they were collecting firewood in eastern Afghanistan, government officials said. #

Afghan men guide firefighters after a huge fire swept through a market in Kabul, on December 23, 2012. A huge fire swept through a market in downtown Kabul, destroying hundreds of shops and forcing the city's nearby money exchange to evacuate, police and witnesses said. There were no reports of any casualties in the early morning blaze which destroyed most of the cloth market's 500 shops, Kabul fire department officials told AFP. #

Afghan refugee boys wrap themselves with blankets to avoid the evening cold while sitting in a wooden cart as they look at a group of girls playing hopscotch in a field on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on November 30, 2012. #

AV-8B Harrier pilot, USMC Capt. Eric Scheibe, with Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 231, Marine Aircraft Group 14, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, conducts an aerial refuel over southern Helmand province, Afghanistan on December 6, 2012. #

Returning from a week-long trip to Afghanistan, Marine Staff Sgt. Glen Silva sits in the back of the Black Hawk helicopter, wearing a protective airsoft mask at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, on December 9, 2012. The visit was called "Operation Proper Exit", a program sponsored by Troops First Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to provide meaningful assistance to service members who have suffered devastating injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. #

Internally displaced Afghan children from Helmand province, wait for winter relief assistance from the United Nation's refugee agency at a refugee camp in Kabul, on December 30, 2012. Around 600 internally displaced families received winter relief assistance distributed by the United Nation's refugee agency. The writing on the blanket reads "Lets Enjoy Your Life!" #

An Afghan nomad kisses his young daughter while watching his herd in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan. In southern Helmand province, one of Afghanistan's deadliest battlefields, angry residents say 11 years of war has brought them widespread insecurity. 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. Development that was promised hasn't materialized and the Taliban's rule is often said to be preferred. #

An Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Spc. Tyler J. Orgaard at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, on December 5, 2012. According to the Department of Defense, Orgaard, 20, of Bismark, North Dakota, died December 3, 2012 in Lashkar Gah City, Afghanistan of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. #

Internally displaced Afghans wait in line to receive firewood donated by Welt Hunger Hilfe "German Agro Action" in Kabul, on December 30, 2012. Around 240 internally displaced families received firewood. #

At Camp Pendleton, California, eight-year-old Alex Velasquez waits for his father, Staff Sgt. Andres Velasquez, to return from a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan just in time for the holidays, on December 20, 2012. #

A U.S. Army soldier assigned to the 132nd Multirole Bridge Command, 507th Engineer Battalion, tightens a bolt during the construction of an Acrow fixed panel bridge in support of Operation Golden Gate in Sangin, Afghanistan, on December 9, 2012. Operation Golden Gate, a joint-service project amongst the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy, and Army, is designed to improve the infrastructure for the local population. #

Fatima, 13, holds a picture of her mother Narges Rezaeimomenabad, suspected of killing a U.S. contractor at a police headquarters, at her home in Kabul, on December 26, 2012. Narges suffered from mental illness and was driven to suicidal despair by poverty, her children told Reuters. On Monday morning, she loaded a pistol in a bathroom at the police compound, hid it in her long scarf and shot an American police trainer, apparently becoming the first Afghan woman to carry out such an attack. She remains in custody as officials try to discover her motive, and if she had outside help. #

A. U.S. Marine assigned to Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment (2/7) takes a nap in the Morale Welfare and Recreation center on Forward Operating Base Now Zad, in Helmand province, on December 17, 2012. #

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Gregory Moore, combat videographer with 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, sits on the back of a KC-130J Hercules to capture imagery of AV-8B Harriers flying over mountains in Helmand province, on December 6, 2012. #

NATO troops from the International Security Assistance Force dance during celebrations of New Year's Eve right before the start of 2013 in Kabul, on December 31, 2012. #

U.S. Army Spc. Dustin Day-Griffith, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team "Rakkasans," 101st Airborne Division, fires a 120mm mortar during a night-fire exercise at Combat Outpost Wilderness, Afghanistan, on December 16, 2012. #