US soldiers on patrol in eastern Afghanistan: President Barack Obama has said he is prepared to negotiate with “moderate” Taliban.

With the power of the Taliban getting ever stronger, observers are asking if the West has failed in Afghanistan. Here, Taliban fighters pose in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.

Violence against women remains a plague in Afghan society. Here Afghan women in Kandahar province mark International Women’s Day on March 8.

The aftermath of a bomb attack in Kabul: The only thing that is clear about this war is that it is increasingly dominated by “asymmetrical” attacks with remote-controlled car bombs, buried land mines or suicide bombers on soft targets such as schools, hospitals, mosques, kindergartens and markets.

Enterprising merchants have converted rusty cargo containers into shops, such as this one on Highway One, where they sell life’s basic necessities.

source: spiegel