Andrew Gourgoumis, a U.S. Marines Captain and commander of the Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, listens to a village elder near the Patrol Base Montana in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, July 1, 2011. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov)
A U.S Marine of Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines walks with a makeshift tool to drag suspicious objects during a patrol outside Camp Gorgak in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, June 30, 2011. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov)
U.S Marines of Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines patrol outside Camp Gorgak in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, June 30, 2011. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov)
U.S. Marines of Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines watch a V-22 Osprey aircraft as its lands at the Camp Gorgak in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, June 30, 2011. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov)
U.S. Army soldiers pull security from the top of a mountain during operation Surak Basta III in Paktika province, Afghanistan, June 21, 2011. The soldiers are assigned 101st Airborne Division’s Company C, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team. The operation’s mission was to infiltrate near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to stop enemy fighters from entering Afghanistan. (U.S. Army courtesy photo)
A US army OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter fires a rocket during a live fire exercise in the mountainous area near Forward Operating base (FOB) Salerno of NATO troops in Khost province, east of Afghanistan on June 29, 2011. (AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE)
US army Private Howard Terrel from Charlie Company, 1-26 Infantry uses binoculars to scan the horizon from Combat Outpost (COP) Bowri Tana in Gorbuz district, on the border with Pakistan in Khost province, east of Afghanistan on June 28, 2011. Gorbuz district is a strategic area where goods as well as insurgents cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan. (AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE)
A US Blackhawk army helicopter flies over the mountainous area of Gorbuz district, on the border with Pakistan in Khost province, east of Afghanistan on June 28, 2011. Gorbuz district is a strategic area where goods as well as insurgents cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan. (AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE)
U.S Marines of Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines patrol outside Camp Gorgak in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, June 30, 2011. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov)