Afghan girls risk their lives to go to secret school

Children's education was once touted as a success in this new democracy. Within two years of the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban, who banned girls' education, officials boasted that 5.1 million children of both sexes were enrolled in state schools, including hundreds of village tent-schools erected by Unicef.

Now that positive tide has come to a halt in several provinces where Taliban insurgents are battling Nato troops, and has slowed dramatically in many other regions. President Hamid Karzai said last week that some 200,000 Afghan children had been forced out of school this year by threats and violence.

We are losing the forgotten war as well.

Tags: Afghanistan, Taliban, women, education, NATO