More Schools, Not Troops [in Afghanistan]

This problem would be solved...

Schools, not troops in Afghanistan
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: October 28, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/opinion/29kristof.html?th&emc=th

"Dispatching more troops to Afghanistan would be a monumental bet and probably a bad one, most likely a waste of lives and resources that might simply empower the Taliban. In particular, one of the most compelling arguments against more troops rests on this stunning trade-off: For the cost of a single additional soldier stationed in Afghanistan for one year, we could build roughly 20 schools there.

It’s hard to do the calculation precisely, but for the cost of 40,000 troops over a few years — well, we could just about turn every Afghan into a Ph.D."

My note: There's research that there's a strong positive relationship between intelligence and athiesm.

http://jonathanturley.org/2008/07/06/researcher-links-high-intelligence-with-atheism/

I'm not a proponent of atheism, not being one myself, but I think it not much of a stretch to suggest that there would be perhaps a stronger inverse correlation between intelligence/education and fanaticism.

And of course, the world would be a better place if they taught parenting skills in these schools. All the problems would be solved if parenting were licensed. Needless to say, being an extremist of any sort would be grounds for denying a parenting license.