Regarding David Howell's Aug. 8 article, "Disaster in Afghanistan": The problems of terrorist extremism, escalating civil wars, human rights abuse on a genocidal scale and the proliferation of nuclear weapons cannot be solved by incumbent policymakers in the developed countries but only by the general public. And it will take two or three decades.
Therefore, education becomes very important. Governments of developed countries must stop sending troops to foreign countries and instead spend more money on improving the content of education for future generations.
For example, Japanese high schools and universities should introduce a government-sponsored program of inviting foreign students here while sending Japanese students to developing countries as volunteer workers as much as possible, such as during summer holidays. This activity should count as credit toward graduation. It would inspire many students to participate and would contribute to raising the younger generation to have a global perspective.