An official from the UNICEF office in Afghanistan on Friday praised Japan's financial support for Afghan education projects as part of efforts to ensure peace in a society that has suffered decades of civil war and years of drought.

"Unless people are educated, we are not going to go back to peace. Education brings peace in the family. Education brings peace in society," Eric Laroche, representative of the UNICEF Kabul Country Office, told an audience in Tokyo, referring to the reconstruction process in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Speaking in the headquarters of the Japan Committee for UNICEF, Laroche underscored the key role of Japan in the "Back to School" campaign in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent U.S.-led military operations on Afghanistan.