theatlantic:

In Focus: Afghanistan, May 2012

This month, President Obama and members of NATO involved in Afghanistan formally agreed on a transition plan, preparing to hand over security responsibilities to Afghan forces by the summer of 2013. France’s new president, François Hollande, restated an earlier pledge to remove all French combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of this year. Suicide bombings, IEDs, and a growing number of “green on blue” attacks (men in Afghan uniforms attacking coalition forces) continue to take a toll and limit security efforts.

Top: The chained leg of Jalaluddin, a drug addict, during his 40-day incarceration at the Mia Ali Baba Shrine in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on May 7, 2012. The shrine is a holy place, and those who care for it say that spending 40 days here will, God willing, free Jalaludin from his personal prison of mental illness.

Center-left: Jake Beaudoin, a U.S. Army Private of 508 BSTB, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, takes cover during a controlled detonation to clear an area for setting up a check point in Zahri district of Kandahar province, on May 31, 2012.

Center-right: Stephanie Montgomery of Atlanta, Georgia, lies on the ground while visiting her brother’s grave, Army Staff Sgt. Thaddeus Montgomery, 29, in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 28, 2012.

Bottom: Dust lights up the rotors of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter as paratroopers with 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment load for an air assault mission near Combat Outpost Ab Band in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, on May 23, 2012.

See the rest. [Images: U.S. Army, AP, Reuters]