For decades Ismail Temorzada's handmade Afghan carpets decorated people's homes around the world, but export problems and competition from Iran's machine-made products have left his business threadbare. "My carpet sales are down, no one is buying hand-made carpets anymore," says Temorzada, who has run a shop for more than 20 years in Kabul's once crowded and colorful Chicken Street bazaar. "Iranian machine made carpets are imported to Afghanistan at a cheaper price," he told AFP, dismissing them as lacking originality, durability and charm. But they are cheap and people buy them, which has contributed to a 70 percent drop in his sales over the past year, he says. Carpets are Afghanistan's best known export, woven mostly by women in the north of the country. Displaying his best carpets, from Andkhoy in northern Faryab province, Temorzada said they cost 60,000 Afghanis -- about $1,300 -- but nobody is buying them.

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GRAPHIC WARNING: This post contains graphic images which some viewers may find disturbing. 

"These attacks are the beginning of the spring offensive and we had planned them for months," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.

The U.S. Embassy was under lockdown but all staff there are safe, according to spokesman Gavin Sundwall. "The U.S. Embassy is currently in lockdown, following our standard operating procedures after hearing explosions and gunfire in the area," he said.

-- Reported by Sohel Uddin, NBC News in Kabul, and Alastair Jamieson, msnbc.com

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A U.S. service member killed at least 15 members of two Afghan families as well as a 16th person before turning himself in, witnesses and officials said Sunday. Nine of the dead were children, and three were women, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a statement.

The soldier, who has yet to be identified, reportedly left his base in the early hours Sunday and went to two villages just a few hundred yards away. He then opened fire on Afghan civilians sleeping in ther homes, Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs Asadullah Khalid told Reuters. The service member entered three homes in the villages in Kandahar province, he said.

-- Reported by msnbc.com staff and news services

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The attack on the base came a day after two U.S. military advisers — a lieutenant colonel and a major — were found dead after being shot in the head in their office at the Interior Ministry in the heart of the capital. The building is one of the city's most heavily guarded buildings, and the slayings raised doubts about safety as coalition troops continue their withdrawal.

-- Reported by NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

See more images from Afghanistan, a nation at a crossroads.

While Iran claims to have taken down the U.S. drone, there is some speculation as to whether or not the craft the country is showing off is in fact legitimate.

From an AP story:

John Pike, an expert on military and intelligence technology for GlobalSecurity.org, said in an email that the drone shown on Iranian TV looked like "a parade float model of a Sentinel" rather than the high-tech robotic surveillance aircraft itself.

He said that the shape of the aircraft differed from that shown in most other photographs of the Sentinel, and that it was in better shape than would be expected after a crash. "I'm guessing this is a mock-up they have prepared for a parade," he said.

Keep in mind, this is also the country that manipulated a misslie launch image to hide the fact that one missile had failed to fire and that is suspected of welding 55-gallon drums together to look like S-300 launchers.

Read the full story here.

 See images from last year's Ashura here.

msnbc.com news services report:

"America is attacking our borders. The government should immediately break ties with it," said Naseema Baluch, a housewife attending the Karachi demonstration. "America wants to occupy our country but we will not let it do that."

U.S. and NATO officials are trying to defuse tensions but the soldiers' deaths are testing a bad marriage of convenience between Washington and Islamabad.

"This was a tragic unintended incident," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement, adding that he fully supported a NATO investigation that was under way. We will determine what happened, and draw the right lessons."

Read the full story here.

See more images from Afghanistan here.

Sometimes I wonder how individuals choose their form of protest.

NBC News and news services report:
Speaking to Meyer's work ethic, Obama called him "one of the most down-to-Earth guys you will ever meet."

When the White House first called to talk to Dakota about the award, he was working on a construction job and didn't want to take the call immediately. The White House called back during Meyer's lunch break.

"If I don't work, I don't get paid," Obama said Meyer told him when the two finally did talk.

"He gets his job done," Obama said.

Read more here and see a slideshow of the men who have received the military's highest honor here.

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 Read more here.

It takes special people to maintain a cool head in these circumstances. To learn more about the Dustoff unit, check out this piece that NPR did a ways back or take a peek at the Dustoff Association's site.

Update: Photographer Anja Niedringhaus wrote a first-person account of the rescue of Lance Cpl. Blas Trevino. Read her dispatch: Lucky charms and bullet holes in Afghan helicopter.

 I was surprised to see that the United States ranked only 31st on the annual Save the Children Mothers' Index. Read more here.

Air drops date back to World War II and have been used extensively in delivering supplies to troops in remote areas of Afghannistan to reduce the risk of troops encountering road-side bombs. Check out this video of an air drop by the RAF. 

See a full slideshow and read more about the dangers that fuel haulers face here.

Read more here.

The color and light in this picture give it a painterly quality.

Tea is the national drink in Afghanistan and is also one of the country's major imports, as it was introduced there in the 19th century by the Russians. Black tea is generally served southeast of the Hindu Kush mountains and green tea is the drink of choice in northwestern Afghanistan, according to the Center for Applied Linguistics. One Afghan tour company states that it is appropriate to take a gift to a host the first time a person has been invited for tea. Upon tea service, a guest's glass will continue to be refilled until he or she says "bus," meaning "enough."

Read the full story here.

I think this picture could have come from any corner of the world, and very little caption information would be needed. Some depictions of relationships and the emotions that come with them need few, if any, words.

Upon seeing this picture, I wondered, "What are the procedures that our military has to follow upon detaining someone they determine to be an 'enemy'?" The Commander's Tactical Handbook that is listed on the U.S. Marines website details what is required of our servicemen:

Enemy Prisoners of War
1. General.
a. Enemy prisoners of war EPW(s) are a good source of information.
b. EPWs must be handled per international law and without
losing a chance to gain intelligence.
2. Handling EPWs.
a. Search EPWs as soon as they are captured.
(1) Take their weapons and papers, except identification
papers.
(2) Give them a written receipt for any personal property
and documents taken.
(3) Tag EPWs’ documents and personal property.
(4) Have one man guard while another searches.
(5) Re-search any EPWs that are relocated.
b. Segregate EPWs into groups: officers, noncommissioned
officers, enlisted men, civilians, males, females, and political
figures. Segregation helps prevent EPW leaders from
organizing, giving support, and promoting escape efforts.
Keep groups segregated as they move to the rear.
c. Silence EPWs.
(1) Prohibit EPWs from talking to each other. This also
keeps them from planning an escape, from cautioning
each other on security, and from inventing or coordinating
stories that could result in lost intelligence opportunities.
(2) Report anything an EPW says to you or tries to say to
another EPW to the S-2.
d. Speed EPWs to the rear. Platoons turn EPWs over to the
company. Use guards to move EPWs to the rear for questioning
by the S-2.
e. Safeguard EPWs when moving them to the rear.
(1) Make sure they arrive safely.
(2) Watch out for escape attempts.
(3) Ensure that they do not bunch up, spread too far out, or
start diversions (e.g., fist fights). These create a chance
for escape.
(4) Ensure that no one abuses them.
f. Tag EPWs and their possessions using an Enemy Prisoner of
War (EPW) Capture Tag (DA Form 5976). See sample form
on pages H-4 and H-5.
(1) Tag the EPW before evacuation to the EPW collection
point.
(2) Tag any enemy documents and equipment. If an item
was found on an EPW, his name should be on the tag,
and the item should be separated from him. (See Part C
of DA Form 5967.)
(3) Evacuate all documents found on an EPW with the
EPW.
3. Types of Searches.
a. A hasty search is a good pat down of the EPW’s entire body,
checking all pockets and areas where the EPW could conceal
weapons or documents. Done only when time is paramount.
b. A detailed search is similar to a hasty search, but in more
detail. Search EPWs thoroughly, checking for hidden pockets
on the inside of the uniform, belts, and boots.
c. A strip search is the most preferred search. Strip EPWs of all
clothing to ensure there are no hidden weapons, booby traps,
or documents. Check all clothing for hidden compartments.
Remember to return the EPW’s protective gear.
Note: For female EPWs, care must be taken to ensure compliance
with international law. Females search females. If none are available,
the order of precedence for searchers is medical personnel,
members of the clergy, and if none of the aforementioned are available,
the senior officer on site.
4. Procedures for Handling and Searching EPWs.
a. Search EPWs located within an enclosed space first during a
hasty search.
b. Cover all EPWs (continue to cover immediate danger areas).
c. Sweep visible weapons away from all the occupants in an enclosure.
d. Check suspected dead.
e. Flex cuff all EPWs.
f. Conduct hasty search of the dead for weapons.
g. Conduct hasty search of the living prisoners.
MCRP 3-11.1A Commander’s Tactical Handbook
Appendix H H-7 Enemy POWs
h. Escort living prisoners to the marshaling area where they
will be detail searched and staged.
i. Detail search the dead and leave in place.
j. Mark dead once they have been searched.

If I didn't know where this picture was taken, I would think it might look like a lovely and interesting place to visit.

New York Times photographer Joao Silva was severely injured in southern Afghanistan in a landmine explosion on Saturday.

Silva stepped on a mine while on patrol with U.S. soldiers near the town of Arghandab on Saturday, the Times reported. Silva, 44, was embedded with a Times reporter Carlotta Gall with a unit of the 101st Airborne Division. Silva was evacuated and taken to Kandahar Airfield, an American and NATO base, and then to a military hospital in Germany, according to Chris Hondros (a Getty Images photographer now in Afghanistan) where he was receiving treatment.

The South African native has photographed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, southern Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East and won many awards for his work. He is also the author with Greg Marinovich of "The Bang-Bang Club," which chronicles four photographers in South Africa in the 1990s. The Digital Filmmaker has a gripping, tragic excerpt from the book on their site, which describes one instance of the toll conflict photojournalism too often claims.

Our thoughts are with Mr. Silva, his family and his colleagues. Read and see more in the Times' Lens blog.

This portrait of a boy in Afghanistan brings to mind the National Geographic image Steve McCurry shot of an Afghan girl in a refugee camp in Pakistan in 1984. How sad it is that generations of people know nothing but internal conflict in their country along with an occasional foreign occupation thrown in. Read more about Steve McCurry's image here.

Photographer Paula Bronstein captured in this image what I perceive to be a subtle moment that suggests the challenges that many women still face in the conservative Afghan culture despite the end of Taliban rule.

When the picture of a soldier in the movie theatre moved across the wire this morning, I was reminded of the image my cousin, Ryan, posted on his Facebook page from his recent tour in Afghanistan of him and his buddies in a homemade swimming pool. I was struck by the contrast of how posh the surroundings seem to be at the Kandahar Airfield in comparison to the harsh environment of the Helmand Province. The less-than-ideal conditions of Helmand in which showers and numerous other comforts aren't available for months, inspired Ryan and his fellow Marines to get pretty creative with what was available to them. They also built a couch out of MRE boxes and sandbags.

I knew drones were relatively small, but I had no idea they were this tiny and could be launched in what looks to be the same way paper airplanes are. However, it makes sense considering an airfield is not always available.

Oh, to be able to sleep anytime, anywhere.