The Taliban's biggest fear...

An educated populace:

Layeha (book of rules) for the Mujahideen

24) It is forbidden to work as a teacher under the current puppet regime, because this strengthens the system of the infidels. True Muslims should apply to study with a religiously trained teacher and study in a Mosque or similar institution. Textbooks must come from the period of the Jihad or from the Taliban regime.

25) Anyone who works as a teacher for the current puppet regime must recieve a warning. If he nevertheless refuses to give up his job, he must be beaten. If the teacher still continues to instruct contrary to the principles of Islam, the district commander or a group leader must kill him.

Yet, in the face of open threats such as the ones above, brave Afghani teachers continue their work, and many pay the price.

Afghan blast claims lives of 2 women, 2 babies

In southern Afghanistan on Sunday, two assailants on a motorbike gunned down a high school principal, an official said.

Abdul Rahim was leaving the mosque near the town of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province when he was shot and killed, said Sajful Maluk Noori, the province's education director.

Noori said the shooting was "a terrorist act" carried out by "the enemies of Afghanistan," a term used to describe Taliban militants.

"This act will not stop our classes or our ongoing examinations," Noori said.

Taliban militants have warned teachers that they will be killed if they continue to work for the government of President Hamid Karzai. Some 20 teachers were killed in 2006.

Canada is committed to both the security and development of Afghanistan

Annual per capita income in Afghanistan, while still under $1 a day, rose to $261 in 2005 from just $145 in 2001. During the same period, female literacy has more than doubled from 13 to 28 percent, and primary school enrolment has risen from 700,000, all of them male, to well over five million, more than one-third of them girls.

Portraying Afghanistan as a never-ending crisis may generate good ratings and sell lots of newspapers, but does the public always get the whole story?

Helping the people of Afghanistan rebuild their country is a long road fraught with danger and pain but that doesn't make it any less worthwhile.