Kofi Annan, a diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, (1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006), co-recipients of the  Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, asserted the significance of literacy, stating, "Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society.

It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition.

For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right. Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential." 

Every nation begins to propel towards quantitative and qualitative accomplishments, admitting the pioneering role of escalated literacy in nation building. September 8 is observed as "International Literacy Day" across the globe, every year. It was recognized by UNESCO on November 17, 1965 and inaugurated, in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally.

The data released by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics show that literacy rates for adults and youth are continuing to rise. But, 800 million adults still cannot read and write, 64 percent of them are women. Education For All (EFA) is a global movement led by UNESCO, aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015.  UNESCO has been mandated to lead the movement and coordinate the international efforts to reach Education for All. Governments, development agencies, civil society, non-government organizations and the media are some of the partners working toward reaching these goals.

The EFA goals also contribute to the global pursuit of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially MDG 2 on universal primary education and MDG 3 on gender equality in education, by 2015.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the nonprofit development organization, World Vision are partners in the All Children Reading campaign. Its goal is to inspire innovative and cost-effective solutions to overcome the hurdles that undermine literacy growth in developing world countries like Afghanistan.

In many places, a lack of resources is the fundamental reason for illiteracy and inadequate educational infrastructure. Parents can't afford school fees; governments can't pay teachers; school facilities are lacking or inadequate.

In some cases, cultural and security issues may limit opportunities for education, especially for girls. In some underdeveloped regions, families don't value the education of female children, or they worry that girls will not reach schools safely. Those fears are especially keen in countries strained by internal conflict, like Afghanistan. Under Taliban leadership, girls were deliberately kept out of schools, a policy the United States has been working to reverse since 2001.

Some countries with large illiterate populations, such as China and Kenya, are on track to achieve the EFA literacy goal. But many countries are far off track. At their current rate of progress, Bangladesh and India will get no more than halfway to the 2015 target, while Angola, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will fall even further short.

The benefits of having a literate population are immense. Literacy increases people's self-esteem and creates opportunities to escape poverty. It equips women with the knowledge and confidence to participate in decisions that affect them. Literacy programs also promote equity when targeting populations with a history of marginalization.

Literacy contributes to peace as it brings people closer to attaining individual freedoms and better understanding the world, as well as preventing or resolving conflict. Any government with a commitment to basic human rights and poverty reduction, or with an interest in removing a major barrier to economic growth, should therefore make reducing illiteracy a priority.

According to a fact sheet compiled by All Children Reading, a coalition effort announced in late 2011 to step up world efforts to increase literacy, "People who can read enjoy better health, make more money, create safer and more stable democracies, and serve their communities more effectively,". "If all students in low-income countries left primary school with basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty, the equivalent of a 12 percent drop in world poverty."

The 2012 EFA Global Monitoring Report, which will be launched on October 16, will focus on how skills – including basic skills like literacy and numeracy – can help young marginalized people get decent jobs and better lives.

Illiteracy is a poverty trap that hinders development of both individuals and countries. It is also a large barrier to learning more job-specific skills.
As well as thwarting young people's hopes, these education failures are jeopardizing equitable economic growth and social cohesion, and preventing many countries from reaping the potential benefits of their growing youth populations.

Having a momentary look at the List of countries by literacy rate, as included in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Report 2011, is frustrating to find Afghanistan standing at 177 out of 184 countries of the world. According to the National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (NRVA) the estimated national adult literacy rate (aged 15 and above) is 26 percent, with 12 percent for women and 39 percent for men. In rural areas, where approximately 74 percent of all Afghans reside, the situation is more acute, with an estimated 93 percent of women and 65 percent of men lacking basic reading and writing skills. According to UNESCO Afghanistan's multiple problems include, the collapse of its education system.

Aiming to reduce illiteracy, accompanied with the gain of political, socio-economic stability and enhancement, requires political commitment. Effective policy interventions with strong leadership, clear targets and financial commitments can produce impressive results, provided higher literacy, prioritized.

Despite all the security challenges in Afghanistan, the country's main and the only truly signiûcant obstacle to progress remains illiteracy and unemployment aligned with being phobic to latest scientific innovations. Seeking, international educational support funds for universalizing educational institutes and imposition of education emergency may help Afghanistan doing away with intra-national conflicts and internal security dilemma.