With the U.S. troop surge now nearing its peak in Afghanistan, more than 150,000 US and international troops are now on the ground. 64 of those troops lost their lives this month, as forces pushed hard into the southern Kandahar Province, traditionally the heartland of the Taliban. At the same time, preliminary discussions are beginning to take place between the inner circle of President Hamid Karzai and members of the Quetta shura, the leadership group that oversees the Taliban war effort inside Afghanistan. Part of the current coalition strategy is to continue applying pressure on the Taliban in the fields, and encouraging their leaders to participate in hoped-for settlement talks. Collected here are images of the country and conflict over the past month, part of an ongoing monthly series on Afghanistan.
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A KC-135R Stratotanker with the 92nd Air Refueling Wing passes over snow-capped mountain ranges in Afghanistan on Oct. 16, 2010. The Fairchild-based KC-135R Stratotanker and crew, one of about a dozen of the 92nd Air Refueling Wing's tankers currently deployed in Kyrgyzstan, refueled six fighter jets Saturday during the six-hour combat sortie. (AP Photo/The Spokesman-Review, Colin Mulvany) #
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The boot of an Air Force pararescueman from the 46th Expeditionary Rescue Squadrons hangs down from the open door of a HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter as he flies to evacuate wounded from the battlefield in Afghanistan's Kandahar province on Friday Oct. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #
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Afghan children stand together near the town of Kunjak in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province October 24, 2010. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #
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A US soldier from L Trp 4/25CR, walks during a foot patrol on the outskirts of Kandahar City, Afghanistan, Monday, Oct. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)#
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Chief of Defense of the Swedish Armed Forces, General Sverker Göranson, place the Medal of Honor on the coffin of Kenneth Wallin, killed in action on an ISAF mission in Mazar-i Sharif in Afghanistan on Saturday, during a ceremony at Arna military airport north of Stockholm, Tuesday Oct. 19, 2010. Wallin was the 6th Swedish soldier killed in action in Afghanistan. (AP Photo / Fredrik Sandberg / SCANPIX) #
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Members of the U.S. Navy carry a comrade wounded by an explosion to a medevac helicopter in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan October 2, 2010. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #
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An Afghan girl listens to the teacher during class at the Naswani school October 12, 2010 in Eraq village, Afghanistan. In the peaceful province of Bamiyan girls are able to attend school without any fears, unlike many in the violent Taliban controlled areas. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) #
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Afghan policemen simulate weapons orientation during a training session with US soldiers from 2nd PLT Diablos 552nd Military Police Company, on the outskirts of Kandahar City, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) #
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Motorists pass a replica of the Eiffel Tower, on a dusty afternoon, Oct. 21, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic) #
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U.S. Army Specialist Thomas Adam Moffitt, 21, of Wichita, Kansas, was killed on October 23rd, 2010 in Paktika Province, in Afghanistan. He was an infantryman assigned to Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. Moffitt joined the Army in February of 2009 and arrived at Fort Campbell four months ago. Survivors include his parents, John and Brenda Moffitt, of Wichita. (AP Photo/Fort Campbell) #
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A discarded military boot lies in a field where the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division was recently attacked October 14, 2010 in Zhari district west of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Soldiers conducted a reconnaissance movement around the field, where five days ago one of their fellow soldiers lost both his legs to a buried IED mine planted by insurgents. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images) #
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Sgt. Thomas James Brennan of Randolph, Massachusetts, from the First Battalion Eighth Marines Alpha Company, smokes a cigarette in his bunk surrounded by photographs of his wife Melinda and their daughter Madison, 2, after a night of rain at the remote outpost of Kunjak in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, October 29, 2010. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #
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The goal keeper of the Afghan women's national football team looks on before the start of a friendly match against the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) female football team at the ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Oct. 29, 2010. The Afghan team scored the only goal of the match during the first half and held their nerve to win the match 1-0. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) #
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U.S. Navy corpsman in the Batallion Aid Station (BAS) at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Zeebrugge treat a 13-year-old Afghan boy on October 21, 2010 in Kajaki, Afghanistan. The boy was brought to the clinic in the morning by the Afghan National Police (ANP) after he had the lower part of his jaw blown off in a blast the previous evening. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) #
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The repatriation ceremony for Corporal David Barnsdale, 24, from Tring in Hertfordshire takes place at RAF Lyneham on October 28, 2010 in Chippenham, United Kingdom. Cpl Barnsdale was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device on Tuesday October 19, 2010 during an operation that was taking place to the east of Gereshk. He was employed as part of a Royal Engineer Search Team and had deployed to Afghanistan with 33 Engineer Regiment. (Sgt. Ian Forsyth /Crown Copyright via Getty Images) #
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A Muslim man prays as German Bundeswehr soldiers patrol high ground overlooking the city on October 9, 2010 in Feyzabad, Afghanistan. (Miguel Villagran/Getty Images) #
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The bloodied clothing of an Afghan man, wounded from an IED, is seen on the ground after he received first aid in the Siah Choi area of Zari district of Kandahar province, south of Afghanistan on October 23, 2010. (MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images) #
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A US State Department worker swims in Camp Nathan Smith, an ISAF military base in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) #
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An Afghan Kuchi girl covers her face as she attends a class in a tent in front of the ruins of the Darlaman Palace which was destroyed during the civil war, on the outskirts of Kabul on October 27, 2010. More than 300 Afghan Kuchi tribal nomads settled into the palace several months ago under the protection of Afghan paramilitary police who use the ruins as a makeshift patrol base, after being driven from a nearby area in Kabul during a bout of ethnic riots earlier this summer. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) #
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Soldiers walk around a postcard stand in a shop at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) #
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A Canadian soldier looks on as military engineers explode ordnance in an attempt to disrupt insurgent supply lines, Thursday Oct. 28, 2010, in Khenjakak, Panjwaii district, Kandahar, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Montpetit) #
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United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal Francisco R. Jackson's son Giovanni Jackson salutes during his father's burial at the Rosehill Cemetery on October 30, 2010 in Linden, New Jersey. LCpl. Jackson, who was from Elizabeth, New Jersey, was killed while participating in combat operations in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images) #
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The casket of US Marine Corps LCpl. Francisco Jackson rests at the bottom of his grave at the Rosehill Cemetery on October 30, 2010 in Linden, New Jersey. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images) #
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Private First Class Brandon Voris, 19, of Lebanon, Ohio, from the First Battalion Eighth Marines Alpha Company stands in the middle of his camp as a sandstorm hits his remote outpost near Kunjak in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, October 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly) #
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Lyrics from a Misfits song, "Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?" decorate the helmet of Marine Cpl. Jonathan Eckert of Oak Lawn, Illinois, attached to India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment while on patrol near Forward Operating Base (FOB) Zeebrugge on October 15, 2010 in Kajaki, Afghanistan. The Marines of India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment are responsible for securing the area near the Kajaki Dam on the Helmand River. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) #
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Children play soccer near the construction of the future Parliament building in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) #
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Family members weep during a deployment ceremony for the 10th Mountain Division before the unit's departure for Afghanistan at Fort Drum, New York on October 26, 2010. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson) #
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Shafiqa, 14, waits for treatment at a free specialized clinic for leishmaniasis supported by World Health Organization (WHO) October 26, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by a parasite transmitted by a tiny sandfly that can lead to severe scarring, often on the face. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #
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A leishmaniasis patient gets a painful injection of Sodium Stibogluconate at a free specialized clinic for leishmaniasis supported by World Health Organization (WHO) October 25, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Leishmaniasis plagues Afghanistan's poor, who often sleep on the floor, and the disease isn't a priority for the government and its aid donors who are grappling with infant mortality, tuberculosis, malaria and trauma. The most common form of the disease is not fatal, but causes untold misery and scarring on faces, stigmatizing children who are excluded at school and making it hard for girls to find husbands. According to WHO, there were an estimated 65,000 reported cases in 2009. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #
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Children play around a bonfire in Kart-e-Sakhi cemetery in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) #
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U.S. Marine Cpl. Alexander Beam of McCook, NE with India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment is comforted after coming in from a patrol where his fellow squad members LCpl. Francisco Jackson of Elizabeth, NJ was killed by an improvised explosive device near Forward Operating Base (FOB) Zeebrugge on October 19, 2010 in Kajaki, Afghanistan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) #
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Italian Alpine soldiers carry the coffins of the four soldiers who died in Afghanistan on Saturday when a bomb exploded as their military convoy passed insurgents and the troops came under fire, upon their arrival at the Ciampino military airport, near Rome, Monday, Oct. 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) #
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Danielle Baldwin, the widow of Lt. Col. Robert Baldwin, of Eliza, Illinois, who was killed in Afghanistan, clutches his flag during a burial service at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) #
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Afghan laborers work at a brick-making kiln on October 13, 2010 in the countryside outside Herat in western Afghanistan. Laborers earn very little in a ten hour day at the kiln. The majority of brick-makers are internal refugees displaced from their provinces after insurgencies. Child labor is common in brick-making facilities where parents use their children to assist with easier jobs. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) #
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Lt. John Paszterko of Los Angeles, California with the US Army's 101st Airborne Division smiles during a patrol October 10, 2010 in Zhari district west of Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images) #
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In this photo taken on Monday, Oct. 11, 2010, US Army soldier Specialist Shaea Koyj, from New Jersey, burns a tub of excrement at an outpost in Zhari district, Kandahar province The Scouts' mission was to support roadside bomb clearance efforts in the militant stronghold, the latest days-long phase of Operation Dragon Strike. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) #
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Afghan bride Zahara, 24, is held by the groom, Gulam Ali as they leave for the wedding ceremony in a taxi October 14, 2010 in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. At local beauty salons, behind drawn curtains, isolated from the males, Afghan women spend hours getting ready for engagement parties and weddings. In accordance with Afghan culture the men are required to be segregated from the women with the exception of the bride and groom. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) #
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A "Dustoff" medevac helicopter, part of Task Force Shadow from the 101st Airborne Division, evacuates wounded U.S. Army soldier PFC Zachary Bosserdet of 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry in Kandahar province, Afghanistan September 28, 2010. Bosserdet was evacuated after a roadside bomb struck his unit while on patrol. (REUTERS/Erik de Castro) #
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A cat takes a spot in the bunk of a soldier of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division in a mud-walled compound converted into a small combat outpost October 13, 2010 in Zhari district west of Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images) #
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An Afghan refugee laughs in the Maslakh refugee camp on October 15, 2010 on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) #
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An Afghan boy flies a kite among other kites and a camera equipped balloon (top) used by the U.S. military at a hilltop in Kabul October 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Erik de Castro) #
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U.S. Air Force pararescuemen ride in the back of their medevac helicopter with the American flag-draped bodies of U.S. soldiers who were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan's Kandahar province on October 10th, 2010. The pararescuemen and pilots from the 46th and 26th Expeditionary Rescue Squadrons had responded to the attack which killed two American soldiers and wounded three others. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #
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Capt. Nicholas Stout of Lake Orion, Michigan (right) admonishes an Afghan man who stole a pay ticket from a child to try to garner payment sponsored by the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army that employs local village men and children in manual labor October 9, 2010 near Zoldag Mongah west of Kandahar. Men are paid up to $20 a day; children are paid $5 to $10, mostly for work cleaning up trash and clearing ditches. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images) #
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A wooden cross stands as a memorial to a British serviceman who lost his life fighting on the peaks above Forward Operating Base (FOB) Zeebrugge on October 23, 2010 in Kajaki, Afghanistan. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #
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Family and friends carry the coffin of British aid worker Linda Norgove in Uig on the Isle of Lewis on October 26, 2010 in Lewis, Scotland. Miss Norgrove, who was 36, had been kidnapped in Afghanistan while working for US aid group DAI; she was fatally wounded during a rescue attempt by US forces. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) #
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A US Army soldier from Scout Platoon 502 Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division searches an associate of a suspected Taliban IED placer, seen in a wheelbarrow, who was killed in a coalition missile strike in Zhari district, Kandahar province on Oct. 10, 2010. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) #
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A boy hides behind the back of a small store on October 2, 2010 in Feyzabad, Afghanistan. (Miguel Villagran/Getty Images) #
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