Herat, Afghanistan News

HERAT: One of five Taliban detainees up for possible release by the United States in the name of peace, Khairullah Khairkhwa, divides opinion among those he once ruled in western Afghanistan.

In this file picture taken on December 8, 2011, an Afghan female police officer practices aiming with a Kalashnikov assault rifle at the Police Training Centre in the outskirts of western Herat province.

Seven Taliban militants have been killed, two injured and 18 detained as suspects since Saturday in joint operations launched by the Afghan forces backed by NATO-led coalition troops, the Afghan interior ministry said Sunday.

The Obama Administration is pursuing peace talks with the Taliban, and as a goodwill gesture it has been leaking the news that it may pre-emptively release five of their leaders held at Guantanamo.

Two years ago, Mohammad Reza was a 17-year-old student in Ghoryan, a district in the Herat province of western Afghanistan, spending half his days at school and the other half playing football with friends.

An Afghan private security commaner, part of a private security company called Arya teaches his under command security men how to join parts of an heavy machine gun during a military lesson at their base in Adraskan, Herat west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb.

Cape Codder Ross Moore and Alaska native Jennifer Zimmerman, pictured here at Race Point in Provincetown, met and fell in love Afghanistan, where each had volunteered to work.

Pajhwok 02/09/2012 By Ahmad Quraishi [Printer Friendly Version] HEART CITY - The first-ever domestic medicine manufacturing factory has started functioning in the western province of Herat, officials said on Wednesday.

A midwife helps a mother with her newborn baby at the Razai Foundation Maternity Hospital in Herat.

Workers continue vertical construction at the 9th Commando Kandak project near Herat, Afghanistan.

Six police officers were killed on Sunday in a car bomb attack on their headquarters in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a bastion of Taliban militancy, a local government official said.

A Taliban militant poses for a picture after joining the Afghan government's reconciliation and reintegration program, in Herat January 30, 2012.

"A piece of shrapnel had gone through his head. My son is dead, and his loss is killing me and my wife.

The Obama administration is considering the release of five Taliban prisoners to improve peace talks with the Afghan insurgency and now we know who's on the short list.

Former Taliban militants hold their weapons during a joining ceremony with the Afghan government in Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday Jan.

Taliban fighters walk with their weapons after joining Afghan government forces during a ceremony in Herat province, last month.

Ten years ago on February 3, the first wave of Canadian troops arrived at Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan, as part of the multi-national coalition forces war against terrorism.

The New Year began violently in Afghanistan, with three bombings killing 13 people in one day in Kandahar.

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - Ayesha Saeed , a mechanical engineer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineering District-South, listens as a construction contractor explains how his company plans to position water pipes in a building's foundation on Camp Zafar Jan.

Taliban militant poses for a picture after joining the Afghan government's reconciliation and reintegration program, in Herat January 30, 2012.