US soldiers, Specialist Joshua Schonert (L) and Ty Shovlin (C) from 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3d Brigade Combat Team under Afghanistan’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) prepare for the day following earlier attacks by Taliban insurgents on their checkpoint in Kandalay village, Kandahar province southern Afghanistan on August 5, 2011. US troops together with forces from Afghan National Army repelled Taliban insurgents attacks on the checkpoint protecting the western area of Kandalay village. Since the checkpoint was set up in August 3, 2011, Taliban have staged attacks on the outpost for two consecutive days. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

US soldier’s machine gun from the 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3d Brigade Combat Team under Afghanistan’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) rest on the ground at a checkpoint in Kandalay village, Kandahar province southern Afghanistan on August 5, 2011. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

US soldier, Specialist Joshua Schonert from 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3d Brigade Combat Team under Afghanistan’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) lights a cigarette as he prepares for the day following earlier attacks by Taliban insurgents on their checkpoint in Kandalay village, Kandahar province southern Afghanistan on August 5, 2011. US troops together with forces from Afghan National Army repelled Taliban insurgents attacks on the checkpoint protecting the western area of Kandalay village. Since the checkpoint was set up in August 3, 2011, Taliban have staged attacks on the outpost for two consecutive days. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

A US soldier from the 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3d Brigade Combat Team under Afghanistan’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) carries a rocket launcher while troops build a bunker at a checkpoint in Kandalay village, Kandahar province southern Afghanistan on August 5, 2011. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

US troops from the 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87, 3BCT under Afghanistan’s International Security Assistance Force, and Afghan National Army soldiers conduct a joint security patrol in the center of Kandalay village, as a fire fight against Taliban insurgents erupts in the outskirts of the village, in Kandahar province southern Afghanistan on August 4, 2011. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

US troops from the 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87, 3BCT under Afghanistan’s International Security Assistance Force, and Afghan National Army soldiers conduct a joint security dawn patrol in the center of Kandalay village, as a fire fight against Taliban insurgents erupts in the outskirts of the village, in Kandahar province southern Afghanistan on August 4, 2011. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

Hospital Corpsman Adam Lopez, 25, of Granbury, Texas, with the U.S. Marines 2nd Battalion 12th Marines based in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, pulls security during a patrol through the village of Shabaz Kheyl Sunday, July 31, 2011 in the Kajaki district of Helmand province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

An Afghan boy looks at a US soldier from the 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87, 3BCT under Afghanistan’s International Security Assistance Force during a joint security patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers in the center of Kandalay village, in Kandahar province southern Afghanistan on August 4, 2011. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

U.S. Army Specialist Blair Brown and Air force Staff Sergeant David Miguel fire a 60mm mortar during a fire fight between Taliban fighters and Afghan and U.S. soldiers from Alpha company, 2nd battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, in Combat Outpost Pirtle King in Kunar province, Afghanistan. (REUTERS/Baz Ratner)