World leaders and international and non-governmental organizations, have invested millions of private and government funds into bringing secular education into remote regions of Afghanistan and other parts of the world in hopes of combating terrorism. This is an insufficient solution to a problem of that faces all religious, economic, and social communities of the world. Focusing on secular education alone without a larger political and economic reform brings a false sense of security because education without other inputs is not sufficient in combating terrorism. A comparative analysis in this thesis illustrates that education by itself does not prevent terrorism. Other causal factors must be considered when addressing individuals who do commit terrorist acts. This thesis will use the cases of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka and eleven profiles of educated individuals who were involved in terrorist acts as counterexamples to the education-only theory. It will also discuss present U.S. operations in Afghanistan that focus on education, and present proposals to improve the social and economic conditions that are necessary aspects of reforms being neglected.
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