Afghanistan

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**FILE** U.S. troops in Afghanistan (Getty Images)

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U.S. soldiers from the 5th Striker Brigade patrol near the Sari Ghundi village along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border Monday. The administration is preparing benchmarks to test how effective President Obama's strategies are in Afghanistan and Pakistan amid growing skepticism among Democrats about the wars' prognosis and costs. (Associated Press)

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Sgt. Karl Augustus, on his third tour in Iraq, says he thinks the new Iraq withdrawal timetable means his next deployment will be to Afghanistan, and he looks forward to that. "I'm just ready for whatever," he says.

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** FILE ** Richard C. Holbrooke (left), the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in February 2009 as tensions over civilian casualties strain relations between the two countries. (Associated Press)

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Agence france-presse/getty images Prince Harry says of his deployment to Afghanistan that he sometimes he had to "take a life to save a life."

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** FILE ** Soldiers who distinguished themselves in action in Afghanistan and Iraq receive honors during ceremonies at Fort Bragg, N.C., in 2008. The most-honored unit was a Special Forces team that won 10 Silver Star medals for valor during a single battle.