U.S. Marines Look Out for Taliban in Afghanistan

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Daily Photo: U.S. Marines Look Out for Taliban in Afghanistan

ABC News' Kirit Radia Reports: The situation in Afghanistan has been bad for years, and all indications are the battle will get even more bloody as additional U.S. troops pour into the country this year while the Obama administration seeks an upper hand against Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents there.

The destroyed building in the photo below is located in a town where air strikes killed Taliban commanders earlier this month.

Today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is attending an international conference on Afghanistan at The Hague, where she asked countries to provide more help for the troubled country.

With the U.S. providing additional combat troops for Afghanistan, Clinton urged countries to provide civilian experts who can help improve governance, economic, and agricultural conditions throughout the country.

Iran also attended the conference as one of Afghanistan's neighbors. A top U.S. diplomat, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, met briefly with the head of the Iranian delegation for what Clinton described as a "cordial" and "unplanned" but not "substantive" meeting -- the first face-to-face encounter between the Obama administration and the Iranian government.

"They agreed to stay in touch," Clinton told reporters.


U.S. Marines keep watch as fellow Marines search for Taliban arms caches on March 31, 2009 in the abandoned town of Now Zad in Afghanistan's Helmand province. Marines from Lima Company of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, have been fighting Taliban insurgents, whose frontline position is just over a mile away from their base.
(John Moore/Getty Images)

Ellie