Photos from Afghanistan

Much of the attention focused on Afghanistan centered on the release of thousands of classified documents from the war effort by WikiLeaks. While the consensus appears to be that nothing significantly new was revealed by the release, the picture painted by the documents remains rather bleak. NATO and the United States now have 143,000 troops in Afghanistan, set to peak at 150,000 in coming weeks as they take a counter-insurgency offensive into the insurgents' southern strongholds. 

U.S. Army soldiers with Task Force Thor Route Clearance Patrol from 23rd Engineering Company, Airborne detonate an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that they discovered during a day-long route clearance mission July 7, 2010 near Khakriz, Afghanistan. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

U.S. Army Sgt. Jonathan Duralde (right) and Sgt. Luis Gamarra of Bravo Troop 1-71 CAV react and hold hands as they fight pain from injuries they suffered from an IED blast as they are transported aboard a MEDEVAC helicopter from Charlie Co. Sixth Battalion, 101st Airborne Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Shadow June 25, 2010 near Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Afghan security personnel stand near the severed head of a suicide bomber at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul on July 18, 2010. A suicide bomber on a bicycle detonated explosives in central Kabul July 18, injuring six people, two days before a key international conference in the capital, a government official told AFP. (MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images)

Sgt. Christopher Duke and wife Lauren Duke greet Rufus at PetAirways on Thursday, July 29, 2010, in Atlanta, Georgia. Rufus and two other dogs saved Duke's and other soldiers' lives while serving in Afghanistan when on the evening of Feb. 11, 2010, the dogs attacked a suicide bomber trying to enter their barracks, forcing the bomber to detonate his explosives in the entry corridor. Though five of the 50 soldiers present sustained injuries, none died that night thanks to the three dogs. One of the dogs was killed, the other two later recovered from their injuries. Sgt. Duke wrote to a veterans assistance group called "Hope for the Warriors" asking for the dogs to be brought to the United States, and $21,000 was raised in less than 3 months enabling the dogs to leave Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Johnny Crawford

An Afghan Army soldier fires a rocket propelled grenade at suspected Taliban militants at Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar July 22, 2010. (REUTERS/Bob Strong)

During a helicopter rescue mission, Staff Sgt. Brenden Patterson, an Air Force Pararescueman of the 58th Rescue Squadron, changes the dressing on the hand of an Afghan boy who stepped on an IED which severed his right foot and most of his hand, in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, Wednesday July 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

7-year old Marco,, the son of Mauro Gigli, one of the two Italian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, cries as the coffin of his father is carried at Ciampino military airport, near Rome on Friday, July 30, 2010. Mauro Gigli and Pierdavide De Cillis were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Wednesday moments after successfully dismantling another such makeshift device. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)

Mourners react as the repatriation cortege carrying Marine Matthew Harrison of 40 Commando, Lieutenant Neal Turkington, Corporal Arjun Purja Pun and Major Josh Bowman of 1st battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles passes through Wootton Bassett, southern England July 20, 2010. (Major Bowman was pictured in last month's entry, just two weeks before he was killed, shot while he slept by a rogue Afghan soldier). (REUTERS/Kieran Doherty)

Soldiers from 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles patrol through a village in Nahr e Saraj, Helmand on June 30, 2010. (BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)

An Afghan girl who fixes potholes in a road between Kabul and Bagram and depends on tips from passing motorists, waits for vehicles in Afghanistan, Tuesday, July 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)

U.S. Navy Lt. Rodolfo Madrid of Kingsville, Texas, runs out to receive a soldier who was wounded by an IED blast at the Kandahar Role 3 Hospital July 12, 2010 at Kandahar Air Field in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A soldier with an injured ankle from the US Army's 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division is assisted past his burning M-ATV armored vehicle after it struck an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on a road near Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley in this picture taken July 23, 2010. None of the four soldiers in the vehicle were seriously injured in the explosion. (REUTERS/Bob Strong)

U.S. Army SPC Jonathan Meredith is greeted by his girlfriend Kimberly Fricke during a homecoming ceremony for about 140 Soldiers from the 293rd Military Police Company after they returned from a 12-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, Wednesday, July 21, 2010 in Fort Stewart, Georgia. The company trained the Afghan police force as well as patrol in an area of Kandahar City in southern Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

A crowd of Afghan protesters clashes with police following Friday prayers in Kabul on July 30, 2010. Scores of Afghans rioted outside the US embassy in Kabul on Friday after a NATO vehicle crashed into a civilian car, killing a number of occupants, officials and witnesses said. (YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Capt. Zachary Tegtmeier of Naperville, Illinois with the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division uses the door to a M-ATV vehicle to shield him as he returns fire on attacking militants July 2, 2010 over the village of Joikahr, Afghanistan. Paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne moved on Joikahr in the early morning of July 2 to establish a security watchpost overlooking the town; when they arrived, they found the town deserted of civilians and came under fire from suspected Taliban militants ensconced in the surrounding hills. After several hours of fighting, the paratroopers along with Afghan forces established the outpost on a hill overlooking the village. The U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne along have been working with Afghanistan National Army forces for nearly a year in this combative zone in the far northwest of the country, building relationships and attempting extend the Afghanistan central government rule to this rural and fiercely independent area rife with Taliban insurgents. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Soldiers with the U.S. Army's 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division shield themselves from the dust as a Medevac helicopter takes off outside Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar July 30, 2010. One soldier lost his leg and another was hit by shrapnel after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blew up during a patrol near the base. (REUTERS/Bob Strong)

A pair of bloody sunglasses lie on the ground after an IED exploded injuring two US Army soldiers just outside Combat Outpost Nolen in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar July 30, 2010. (REUTERS/Bob Strong)

An Army carry team moves a transfer case with the remains of Army Specialist Matthew R. Hennigan, of Las Vegas, Nevada, who died in Operation Enduring Freedom, during a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base on July 2, 2010 in Dover, Delaware. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)