"It is better for my children to be alive even if it means they must be illiterate." Education in Afghanistan: A harrowing choice By Barry Bearak in the International Herald Tribune Published: July 9, 2007

(ME: this article does a GREAT job of showing how difficult it is in Afghanistan, in terms of dealing with all of the various sources of hostilities. In most parts of Afghanistan, the Taliban is the least of anyone's problems)

QALAI SAYEDAN, Afghanistan: "With their teacher absent, 10 students were allowed to leave school early. These were the girls the gunmen saw first, 10 easy targets walking hand-in-hand through the blue metal gate and on to the winding dirt road. A 13-year-old named Shukria was shot in the arm and the back and teetered into the soft brown of an adjacent wheat field. Zarmina, her 12-year-old sister, ran to her side, listening to the wounded girl's precious breath and trying to help her stand. But Shukria was too heavy to lift and the two gunmen, sitting astride a single motorbike, suddenly sped closer."