An Afghan teacher receives gifts from he

An Afghan teacher receives gifts from her schoolchildren at a school in central Kabul on May 24, 2010, on World Teacher's Day. Afghanistan has been suffering some sort of armed conflict for the past 30 years, starting with the Soviet invasion of 1979, through civil war and, from 1996-2001, rule by the Islamist Taliban who banned girls from education. This has left a huge knowledge gap that the international community has been trying to fill, with billions of dollars of aid pouring in since the Taliban were pushed out in a US-led invasion. AFP PHOTO/Tauseef MUSTAFA (Photo credit should read TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP via Getty Images)