Afghanistan

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A U.S. soldier from the 101st Airborne Division reads as a sandstorm blows around him at Forward Operating Base Howz-e-Madad in southern Afghanistan's Zhari district on Tuesday. U.S. and Afghan troops plan an assault there, the birthplace of the Taliban, next month. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** An improvised explosive device (IED) wrecked a police car and wounded several police officers in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 24, 2010. (Associated Press)

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An Afghan soldier stands guard over arrested Taliban suspects and confiscated arms and ammunition at a police compound in Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, Aug. 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Reza Shirmohammadi)

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he decided to ban private security firms in his country because they were contributing to corruption. (Associated Press)

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U.S. soldiers shield themselves from the rotor wash of a medevac helicopter as it takes off with patients in the Zhari district of Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan on Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

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In this Dec. 2, 2009, file photo, U.S. soldiers patrol through the heart of Kabul, Afghanistan. A majority of Americans see no end in sight in Afghanistan, and nearly six in 10 oppose the nine-year-old war as President Obama sends tens of thousands more troops to the fight, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)

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"We are doing everything we can to achieve progress as rapidly as we can without rushing to failure," said Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** In this photo from May 28, 2010, local Afghan residents watch a burning oil tanker that was carrying fuel supplies for NATO forces after it was allegedly attacked by Taliban on a Jalalabad highway, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** Afghan President Hamid Karzai (left) and Sen. John Kerry (The Washington Times)

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In this July 19, 2010, file photo, A U.S. contractor looks away from a dust cloud whipped up by a helicopter departing over the gatepost at Combat Outpost Terra Nova in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010, set a four-month deadline for private security companies to cease operations in the country. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai issues an ultimatum to private security firms in Afghanistan. (Associated Press)

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Afghans gather at the scene of an attack on a presidential adviser in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Aug. 2. CIA Director Leon Panetta said fewer than 100 al Qaeda operatives remain in Afghanistan, a number officials hope will restore American optimism in the ongoing war. (Associated Press)

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In this image made available by International Assistance Mission, Jawed, a 24-year-old Afghan from Panjshir province, the team's cook, one of 10 civilian volunteers killed in Afghanistan on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010, is shown. The Christian charity IAM said Monday, Aug. 9, 2010 that it had no plans to leave Afghanistan despite the murders of 10 members of its medical aid team and repeated that the organization does not attempt to convert Muslims to Christianity. The 10 team members -- six Americans, two Afghans, one Briton and a German -- were gunned down Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 after they were accosted by gunmen after finishing a two-week mission providing medical care to impoverished villagers in remote Nuristan province. (AP Photo/International Assistance Mission)