AFGHANISTAN-NOWRUZ

Afghan men feed pigeons in front of the shrine of Hazrat-i Ali ahead of ‘Nowruz’, the Persian New Year celebrations in Mazar-i Sharif on March 17, 2013. Nowruz, one of the biggest festivals of the war-scarred nation, marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in the Persian calendar. Nowruz is calculated according to a solar calendar, this coming year marking 1392. AFP PHOTO/Farshad USYAN