Earlier this month, as U.S. and NATO forces lay the groundwork for an accelerated withdrawal from Afghanistan, a serious misstep threatened to disrupt their plans. On February 21, reports surfaced that NATO personnel at Bagram Air Base had burned a number of Korans, which were discovered and saved by locals working at the base. Despite an apology from the Obama administration, and claims by NATO authorities that the burnings had happened inadvertently, violent anti-American demonstrations erupted in several places. Dozens were killed, including four American troops. Two of the Americans were allegedly killed by an Afghan colleague, another in an increasing number of insider attacks. According to the Pentagon, around 70 NATO members have been killed in 42 insider attacks from May 2007 through January 2012. Gathered here are images of the people and places involved in this conflict over the past month, as part of an ongoing monthly series on Afghanistan.
A CH-47 Chinook helicopter scatters snow as it lands at a remote landing zone in Shah Joy district, Zabul province, Afghanistan, on February 8, 2012. (U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jon Rasmussen)
An Afghan boy watches Afghan Border Police Pvt. Ghul Faruq, a medic with 2nd Tolai, 2nd Kandak, Helmand ABP, provide security as fellow ABP search a compound during a partnered security patrol with U.S. Marines from Combined Anti-Armor Team 2, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, on January 30, 2012. (USMC/Cpl. Reece Lodder)
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Guillermo Floresmartines wades through a canal during a patrol around the villages of Sre Kala and Paygel in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on February 16, 2012. U.S. Marines and sailors conducted clearing and disrupting operations around the villages during Operation Highland Thunder. (USMC/Cpl. Alfred V. Lopez)
A local elder asks Garmsir District Governor Mohammad Fahim a question about development projects during a shura on February 23, 2012. Fahim asked the elders for help in growing the Afghan Local Police program, and urged them to cease illicit poppy growth in their villages. In response to their requests for school, clinic and road construction, Fahim implored the elders to support Afghan-led security efforts.(USMC/Cpl. Reece Lodder)
Master Sgt. Rogelio Martinez, 76th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron flight engineer, inspects a camera on the front of a HC-130P King, a search and rescue version of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. Martinez is responsible for preflight, in-flight and post-flight checks of the aircraft. (USAF/Tech. Sgt. Beth Del Vecchio)
Internally displaced Afghans from Helmand province inside a mud shelter for the displaced at the Charhi Qambar refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul, on February 6, 2012. Fleeing NATO bombardment and Taliban intimidation, thousands of Afghans in refugee camps in the capital Kabul face a new enemy: an unusually bitter winter that is killing their children. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)
Afghan demonstrators show copies of Korans allegedly set alight by US soldiers, during a protest against Koran desecration at the gate of Bagram Air Base, on February 21, 2012. The copies of the burnt Korans and Islamic religious texts were obtained by Afghan workers contracted to work inside Bagram air base, and presented to demonstrators gathered outside the military installation.(Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)
An Afghan boy who works at a bakery watches a protest outside his a window in Kabul, on February 24, 2012. Twelve people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO military base with riot police and soldiers on high alert braced for more violence. (Reuters/Ahmad Masood)
An Afghan protester gestures towards a US soldier in front of the US base of Bagram during an anti-US demonstration in Bagram north of Kabul, on February 21, 2012. More than 2,000 angry Afghans, some firing guns in the air, protested on Tuesday against the improper disposal and burning of Korans and other Islamic religious materials at an American air base. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
An Afghan boy watches as a young man aims an airgun at US soldiers (unseen) at the gate of Bagram airbase during a protest against Koran desecration on February 21, 2012. Afghan protestors firing slingshots and petrol bombs besieged one of the largest US-run military bases in Afghanistan, furious over reports that NATO had set fire to copies of the Koran. Guards at Bagram airbase responded by firing rubber bullets from a watchtower. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)
An Afghan policeman runs after confiscating a U.S. flag from protesters in Kabul February 23, 2012. The Taliban urged Afghans to target foreign military bases and kill Westerners in retaliation for burnings of copies of the Koran at NATO's main base in the country as a third day of violent protests began. (Reuters/Omar Sobhani)
An Afghan police officer fires into the air to disperse protestors during an anti-U.S. demonstration in Kabul, Afghanistan, on February 23, 2012. The Koran burnings have roiled Afghans and set off riots in an illustration of the intensity of the anger at what they perceive as foreign forces flouting their laws and insulting their culture. The U.S. has apologized for the burnings, which took place at a military base near Kabul, and said it was a mistake. (AP Photo)
A parachute bundle with the Joint Precision Air Drop system is dropped from a C-130J Hercules to a remote Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan. The JPAD system uses a GPS navigation system to guide parachute bundles to precise drop zones, minimizing collateral damage, troops' ground travel, and the vulnerability of the aircraft. (USAF/SrA Tyler Placie)
A child stands with his father as they wait to receive blankets and winter jackets from Welthungerhilfe, a German NGO, during a snow fall at a camp for internally displaced Afghans in Kabul, on Feb, 20. 2012. More than 40 people, most of them children, have frozen to death in what has been Afghanistan's coldest winter in years, an Afghan health official said Monday. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
U.S. Army Sgt. Aaron Sweeny, from San Diego, California, and Staff Sgt. Robert Novak, from Temple, Texas, both with 3rd Platoon, Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, Task Force Spartan, watch explosions from a mountaintop near Forward Operating Base Salerno during a call-for-fire exercise on February 3, 2012. (US Army/Spc. Ken Scar)
In this picture taken on January 18, 2012, an Afghan man injects heroin near the Kabul River. The number of drug users in Afghanistan has increased dramatically, but corruption within the state has prevented the distribution of methadone for treatments, said the Afghan minister of health. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)
A cache of unexploded ordnance is detonated by coalition special operations forces during a presence patrol in Pul-e Khumri district, Baghlan province, on February 8, 2012. Afghan commandos and coalition special operations forces detonated more than 450 pounds of unexploded ordnance. (U.S. Army/Spc. Robin Davis)
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Brandon Mann uses his automatic rifle's scope to scan the area while providing security with his military working dog, Ty, around the villages of Sre Kala and Paygel in Helmand province, on February 17, 2012. Mann, a military working dog handler, and Ty, an IED detection dog, are assigned to Alpha Company, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion.(USMC/Cpl. Alfred V. Lopez)
Andrew and Laura Johnson turn to say a few words of gratitude to soldiers at the conclusion of a memorial service for their son, 1st Lt. David A. Johnson, as they stand in front of a ceremonial helmet, rifle and boots on February 15, 2012, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, Washington. Johnson, 24, of Horicon, Wisconsin, died on January 25 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered from an IED detonation while he was on patrol. Johnson was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, which had deployed to Afghanistan in December, 2011. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Afghan Border Police with 4th Tolai, 2nd Kandak, Helmand ABP, and U.S. Marines with Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, board a CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter near Combat Outpost Torbert before the start of Operation Shahem Tofan (Eagle Storm), on February 10, 2012. After arriving in the Registan Desert on helicopters and an armored convoy, ABP and the Weapons Marines scoured dusty highways for smugglers and insurgents moving across the eastern desert into Helmand province.(USMC/Cpl. Reece Lodder)
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