Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
After decades of civil war and military attacks, Afghanistan today has become synonymous with brutal force and bloodshed.
The country's haunting landscape -- sweeping terrains, towering mountains and barren meadows -- has remained a tragic background for this cycle of violence.
Take a look at these photographs that were taken in some of the remotest, most dangerous and yet most captivating places in the strife-torn nation.
A bullet hole is seen in a window of a building where the office of private armoured car company Tiger International is located, after a raid on the office by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Kabul.Click NEXT for more photos...
Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Erik De Castro/Reuters
Afghan residents walk on a snow covered field near Bagram highway in Afghanistan on February 29.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
Afghan women clad in burqas walk past a tree in Bagram, north of Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Omar Sobhani/Reuters
An Afghan police officer prays as he waits near the area where the bodies of two Germans were found in Salang, north of Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Omar Sobhani/Reuters
Afghan men play football in front of the old palace in Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Nikola Solic/Reuters
An United States Army Chinook helicopter takes off from Observation Post Mace in Naray district, Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
An Afghan boy holds his face as he throws himself backwards to a stream of water in Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters
A door made from metal is seen on a compound at the village of Kunkak in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
An Afghan boy plays on a swing during a gathering to celebrate the Afghan New Year in Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
A boy climbs down a berry tree at a cemetery in Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
Afghan policemen train at a live firing range in the central province of Bamiyan.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Thomas Peter/Reuters
A woman wearing a burqa stands in front of the Hazrat Ali, or Blue Mosque, in Mazar-e-Sharif.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Umit Bektas/Reuters
US Army soldiers sit behind a wall as others search for explosives after an IED blast damaged one of their vehicles in Logar province.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
Afghan youths play at a cemetery in Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Erik De Castro/Reuters
A truck carrying villagers drives past on a road as seen from a bunker of U.S. soldiers from Task Force 'No Fear' 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, 2-27 Infantry in Outpost Bari Alai in Kunar, Afghanistan.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
Afghans remove a carpet after burial ceremony of Burhanuddin Rabbani, former Afghan president and head of the government's peace council on Wazir Akbar Khan hill in Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Erik De Castro/Reuters
An aerial view of houses near a US military base in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters
Afghan children play on frozen water on the outskirts of Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
A donkey transports ballot boxes to villages unreachable by vehicles in Panjshir province, north of Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Nikola Solic/Reuters
The landscape of Panjwa'i district, southwest of Kandahar City, is seen during sunset from Canadian Army Camp Sperwan Ghar.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Erik De Castro/Reuters
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Thomas Peter/Reuters
Soldiers of the German ISAF troops survey the terrain during a patrol securing the surrounding of Camp Marmal near Mazar-e Sharif.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters
A man walks with his goats outside Kabul.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Erik de Castro/Reuters
An aerial view of a part of Kandahar City, as seen from a US military helicopter.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Jason Reed/Reuters
A US army helicopter crewman takes a picture with his cellphone of a Blackhawk helicopter carrying then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates between his visits to Forward Operating Bases.
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Umit Bektas/Reuters
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Marko Djurica/Reuters
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Inside look into AFGHANISTAN: Of bullets and beauty
Photographs: Bob Strong/Reuters
A large field of poppies grows on the outskirts of Jelawar village in the Arghandab Valley north of Kandahar.
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