Afghanistan, March 2011

Every month in the Big Picture, we revisit Afghanistan, to see the people, to see our troops and troops from other nations, to get a sense of the country. President Hamid Karzai said recently his security forces will soon take charge of securing seven areas around Afghanistan, the first step toward his goal of having the Afghan police and soldiers protecting the entire nation by the end of 2014. Our troops are due to begin coming home this July. There is still work to be done. Many of the photos featured in this post show the celebration of the Afghan New Year. The festival to celebrate new year's starts on March 21 and is celebrated in Turkey, Central Asian republics, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, as well as war-torn Afghanistan and it coincides with the astronomical vernal equinox. One of the most popular places to bring in the new year, Mazar-i Sharif, attracts hundreds of thousands of Afghans. -- Paula Nelson (35 photos total)

Afghan children play as they eat ice lollies in Kabul on March 21, the Afghan New Year. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press)

Sitting in a graveyard, Afghans watch the rising of the holy mace outside of Sakhi Shrine on the occasion of Nowruz, which means "new day," in Kabul on March 21. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press) #

Afghan security guards the Nowruz celebrations as a holy mace is hoisted at Hazrat-i Ali shrine in Mazar-i Sharif, in north Afghanistan, on March 21. It is believed that if the flag rises smoothly, it is a good omen for the year. Nowruz, one of the biggest festivals of the war-scarred nation, marks the spring equinox, It is the start of the solar year 1390. (Massoud Hossain/AFP/Getty Images) #

Afghan women pray outside the Blue Mosque, the supposed location of the Tomb of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, on the occasion of Nowruz, in Mazar-i-Sharif north of Kabul. (Mustafa Najafizada/Associated Press) #

An Afghan guard of honor watches the new year celebrations at Hazrat-i Ali shrine in Mazar-i Sharif, the center of Afghan New Year Nowruz celebrations. (Massoud Hossain/AFP/Getty Images) #

Afghans dance outside of the Sakhi Shrine on the occasion of Nowruz in Kabul on March 21. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press) #

An Afghan boy swings on the occasion of Nowruz, held at the Sakhi Shrine in Kabul on March 21. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press) #

Afghans carry balloons to sell, as they walk toward the Sakhi Shrine for new year's ceremonies in Kabul on March 21. (Ahmad Nazar/Associated Press) #

Afghan children, holding roosters, play outside their house in Kabul on March 21. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press) #

Children play on a swing outside the Karti Sakhi Shrine in Kabul as part of the celebrations at the start of Nowruz. Police and military were on high alert ahead of a planned new year announcement by President Hamid Karzai of plans for a gradual transfer of responsibilities from foreign troops to Afghan security forces. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images) #

A boy watches the Sakhi Shrine on the occasion of Nowruz in Kabul on March 21. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press) #

A man and daughter join a gathering to celebrate the Afghan New Year in Kabul on March 21. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters) #

Women attend a gathering to celebrate the Afghan New Year in Kabul, March 21. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters) #

A child swings on a rope as a police armored vehicle patrols outside of the Sakhi Shrine during new year's celebrations on March 21. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press) #

Afghans descend a mountain after watching the rising of holy mace in Sakhi Shrine on the occasion of Nowruz, a new year ceremony, in Kabul. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press) #

Boys brandish their toy guns at the Sakhi shrine in Kabul on the occasion of Nowruz, a festival that coincides with the astronomical vernal equinox and that has roots in ancient Persia. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press) #

Women walk at the Sakhi cemetery in Kabul on March 16. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press) #

Aishya, an Afghan girl, watches a Nowruz ceremony at the Sakhi Shrine from a mountaintop near Kabul. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press) #

Afghans play soccer at the destroyed Darulaman Palace in the western part of Kabul on March, 16. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press) #

Afghan men watch a game of Buzkashi to celebrate Nowruz in Mazar-i Sharif, the center of Afghan New Year's celebrations, in northern Afghanistan. Horse-riding players in Buzkashi battle over control of a goat carcass. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans from around of the country gather in Mazar-i Sharif to join the ceremony. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images) #

Horsemen compete for a goat carcass during a game of Buzkashi to celebrate Nowruz in Mazar-i Sharif in northern Afghanistan on March 21. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images) #

Buzkashi is a traditional team game with its origins in the steppes of Central Asia. The game is fierce, with players striking or whipping opponents in an attempt to grab the carcass and take it to their scoring area. The game is played at such holidays as Nowruz celebrations. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images) #

A night view of the Hazrat-e Ali shrine during Nowruz in Mazar-i Sharif on March 21. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images) #

An Afghan child clad in blue gum-boots walks toward a checkpoint operated by US Marines from the Second Battalion, First Marines Company in Basabad, Helmand Province on March 9. Last year was the deadliest yet for civilians in the Afghan war with a 15 percent jump in the death toll, the UN said in a report March 9. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images) #

Two Afghan women watch US Marine servicewomen patrol in Basabad, Helmand Province on March 9. The Marines deployed about 40 women in Helmand and Nimruz as part of an organized effort to interact with Afghan women and children. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images) #

Children attend a community class for mine and unexploded ordnance awareness organized by the Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation, on the outskirts of Kabul on March 23. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters) #

Women and children pass an Afghan police officer in Mazar-i Sharif on March 20 as residents prepare to mark the Persian and Afghan New Year, Nowruz. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images) #

A biblical quote is written on a helmet of a US Marine of the Second Battalion, First Marines Regiment in Garmser, Helmand province. There are around 140,000 international troops, two-thirds of them from the United States, in Afghanistan fighting the militant Islamist Taliban. In March, 25 members of the coalition forces were killed in Afghanistan, including 19 Americans. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images) #

Marine Lance Corporal Shawnee Redbear plays with an Afghan toddler during a patrol in Basabad, Helmand province, on March 9. Redbear is part of a program to increase interactions with Afghan civilians, specifically women and children. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images) #

Village doors in Helmand province are made from a variety of scavenged material -- oil drums, shipping containers, bits of cloth, rice sacks or tins -- and are often the only splash of individuality and color in a beige landscape where one compound looks almost identical to the next. (Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters) #

A district official distributes books to children in Garmser, Helmand province. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images) #

Afghan women work on sewing machines as they produce boots for Afghan National Police officials in a factory in Kabul on March 1. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images) #

A boy carries a container of water in Kabul on March 16. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press) #

US members of a Medevac team repaint the edges on the propeller blades of their Blackhawk helicopter at Kandahar airbase in southern Afghanistan on March 17. General David Petraeus made his first appearance on Capitol Hill since assuming command of coalition forces. In hearings on March 15 and 16, he said coalition forces have halted the Taliban march in parts of Afghanistan, but he warned that the fragile success could be undone. (Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images) #

An Afghan National Army commando trains at Camp Morehead on the outskirts of Kabul on March 22. President Hamid Karzai said that his security forces will soon take charge of maintaining security in seven areas around Afghanistan. Those areas have mostly been cleared of militants by coalition and Afghan forces. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press) #

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