http://www.nafsa.org/Explore_International_Education/Advocacy_And_Public_Policy/International_Education__The_Neglected_Dimension_of_Public_Diplomacy...

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Many of our current political leaders have failed to grasp fully that although much changed on September 11, 2001, much did not. Some things that were true before 9/11 are still true today. Among them are that the United States, for all our power, cannot be secure in a world that does not trust us and that resents and resists our leadership; that the United States, as any state, needs friends and allies; and that the United States cannot be effective in, much less lead, a world that it neither listens to nor understands. We know from polling data that Americans "get" this at some level. It is the task of the next generation of leadership to reassure Americans that these fundamental principles are just as valid today as they ever were.

International education forms the foundation for addressing these challenges, and it is an indispensable component of the revived public diplomacy that must begin to rebuild America's global reputation. Yet the United States today lacks the policy instruments to realize international education's potential. It is time, as a nation, to be purposeful about international education—to employ it consciously, in a coordinated manner, as one of the tools in the national toolkit for engaging with the world in pursuit of the objectives that we share with the world's people. It is through international education that we establish a lasting foundation for dialogue and partnership with the rest of the world and create the conditions for lasting global peace, security, and well-being.

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http://www.nafsa.org/Explore_International_Education/Advocacy_And_Public_Policy/International_Education__The_Neglected_Dimension_of_Public_Diplomacy/