• When girls are educated, their future income increases dramatically, they and their children live longer and healthier lives, and malnutrition in the family declines sharply.
• Education decreases harmful traditional practices, like early childhood marriage, female genital mutilation and child slavery.
• Exclusion from education disproportionately affects the most poor and vulnerable children.  Without hope and opportunity, these children are more likely to be exploited or recruited by terrorist organizations.
• Education is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of AIDS and has been called a “social vaccine.”  For girls with primary education, their risk of infection is reduced by 25% -- for those with secondary education, the risk is reduced by 50%.
• In some parts of the world, over 50% of the population is under the age of 15.  Education teaches much-needed leadership skills, civic responsibility and life skills.
• Education provides a foundation for democratic governments.  It builds respect for the rule of law and concepts of justice, and it provides citizens with a stake in their own future.
• Education promotes tolerance and decreases extremism by providing safe environments for children to come together to learn about other languages, religions, cultures and customs, learn non-violent dispute resolution, and build bridges and breakdown misunderstandings between classmates, as well as community members.

Afghanistan is a harsh example of what happens to a country when you take education away.  It literally became the most poor and oppressed country in the world.  To build it back up, education is key.