The collection line outside Kabul's Passport Office. NPR producer Sultan Faizy spent more than two weeks trying to get reporter Sean Carberry's visa renewed. Sean Carberry/NPR hide caption
Afghanistan
Ghulam Mujtaba Patang speaks at a news conference Monday after being dismissed from his post as Afghanistan's interior minister. He will stay in the post until the country's Supreme Court rules on the legality of his dismissal. Mohammad Ismail/Reuters /Landov hide caption
Zang-e-Khatar, or Danger Bell, makes fun of government officials and other powerful figures in Afghanistan. Cast members are shown performing a skit during a taping of the show. Sultan Faizy/NPR hide caption
Afghan soldiers take positions following a clash with Taliban fighters on the outskirts of the eastern city of Jalalabad on July 7. The U.S. is trying to organize peace talks, but the latest effort has been put on hold while the fighting continues. Noorullah Shirzada/Getty Images hide caption
Photos depict scenes at the $34 million command center in Camp Leatherneck, completed in November. U.S. troops will never use the facility, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction says. SIGAR hide caption
U.S. troops at an April re-enlistment ceremony in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Afghan official inspects wreckage at the site of a suicide attack near Kabul military airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 10. After a month outside the country, NPR's Sean Carberry returned to find some things that had changed, but many, like insurgent violence, that remain the same. Ahmad Jamshid/AP hide caption
The Afghan Local Police is a semi-volunteer force. They are minimally paid and minimally trained, and when the Americans leave, they will be left to defend their country on their own. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption
Mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles — MRAPs — like these are some of the more than $7 billion in equipment the U.S. Army is dismantling and selling as scrap in Afghanistan. Lucas Jackson/AP hide caption
Afghan President Hamid Karzai reportedly pulled his representatives out of planned peace talks because of the flag and the nameplate at the Taliban office in Doha, Qatar. Both were legacies of the time the Taliban ruled the country and illustrated how sensitive such symbols can be. EPA/Landov hide caption
Guests arrive for the opening ceremony of the new Taliban political office in Doha on June 18. Faisal Al-Timimi/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during a ceremony Tuesday at a military academy on the outskirts of Kabul. Rahmat Gul/AP hide caption
Afghan President Hamid Karzai shakes hands with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen after a security handover ceremony at a military academy outside Kabul on Tuesday. Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images hide caption