A US Marine from 3rd Battalion 9th Marines Kodiak Company looks though the scope of his rifle during a patrol at Kote Tazagul area in Marjah district in Helmand Province on May 24, 2011. (AFP PHOTO)

US Marines from 3rd Battalion 9th Marines Kodiak Company and Afghanistan’s forces gather as a Marine helicoopter takes off after an early morning operation, at Block 9 military camp of Marjah district in Helmand Province on May 23, 2011. US Marines arrested 12 suspects during an operation on May 23 in Shinghazak area, south of Marjah district in southern Helmand province. (AFP PHOTO)

Afghan children look on as a US Marine from 3rd Battalion 9th Marines Kodiak Company walks to his patrol base in Block 9th of Marjah district in Helmand Province on May 25, 2011. US lawmakers on May 24 saw momentum for political reconciliation in Afghanistan in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, but voiced fear that the fight against extremism was floundering in Pakistan. (AFP PHOTO)

A US Marine from 3rd Battalion 9th Marines Kodiak Company rests during a patrol at Kote Tazagul area in Marjah district in Helmand Province on May 24, 2011. (AFP PHOTO)

US Marines from 3rd Battalion 9th Marines Kodiak Company talk to Afghan locals after a Shura in Block 9 of Marjah district in Helmand Province on May 22, 2011. Six members of the Afghan security forces died on May 22 when the Taliban stormed a traffic police office and two suicide bombers detonated themselves, triggering a nine-hour standoff. The attack in restive Khost province, which borders Pakistan in the east, came the day after six medical students were killed and 23 wounded when a suicide bomber struck at Kabul’s heavily-guarded main military hospital. (AFP PHOTO)

A US Army helicopter flies over the area in which the military hospital is located in central Kabul on May 21, 2011. Six medical students were killed and 23 others wounded in a suicide blast on May 21 at a Kabul military hospital, Afghanistan’s defence ministry said. (AFP PHOTO)