As the United States weighs its strategic options in Afghanistan, investing in education should be high among those choices, Chris Taylor writes in Foreign Policy’s Best Defense blog. 

"While education is a strong soft power tool, it affects national security, too. Afghanistan's low literacy rate poses significant challenges to strategic training programs for its army, police forces, and government agencies, potentially impairing its ability to fully take responsibility for its own security in 2014," he writes.  

Investing in the American University of Afghanistan (founded partially thanks to a grant from USAID), Taylor says, will help to create educated leaders that reject extremism and corruption, and embrace equality and democratic values. 

Read the full piece here.