US soldiers keep guard near a canal running thru Highway 1 on the outskirts of Kandalay village in Kandahar province on August 6, as part of a mission to secure southern Afghanistan's strategic roadway against Taliban insurgents' placements of improvised explosive devices (IED). According to Captain Max Ferguson commander of Charlie Co., a Taliban was killed while trying to place IED some 800 meters from the area where soldiers were sealing off the road culvert with iron grids and barb wires. (Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images)