By GLORIA GALLOWAY, Toronto Globe and Mail

Schools have been burned, students threatened and girls doused with acid.
But even as learning to read becomes a more dangerous proposition, the number of children attending school in Kandahar is climbing.
Hajim Anwar, director of education in this province, said the success is a tribute to parents who want better lives for their children.

Mohammed Hussain grows grapes and wheat on the farm in the Panjwai district that was passed down to him from his father and grandfather. But he no longer lives there.
"We were waiting for the promised stability and security, but it just didn't come," he said this week through an interpreter.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The kid on the bike just would not stop.A foot patrol of Canadian troops arrived at a dusty crossroad in one of the many small villages that make up Kandahar city. The soldiers in the lead raised their hands, palms outward, to warn approaching Afghans to stay put.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A strange man phoned Masoda Younasy about a year ago at the construction company she owns in downtown Kandahar.He would not give his name. And when Younasy, who is now 22, suggested that he come to her offices, the man explained that he was already outside the building but the watchman would not let him through the door.

KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan -- If there is a gauge by which the toll of the Taliban can be measured, it is here at the military hospital tucked just off the runway at the Kandahar Air Field.The Role 3 medical facility, a collection of tents and aging, low-lying buildings, treated more patients in July than any other unit of its kind in Afghanistan or Iraq.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Canadian Forces follow rules designed to prevent the killing of innocent civilians such as the bombardment that took the lives of nearly a hundred Afghans last week, Defense Minister Peter MacKay has said.

CHALK RIVER, Ontario -- The controls are analog, not digital. And the warnings about maximum weight load are given in pounds, not kilograms.