Root Causes
Does poverty and poor education cause terrorism? Of course not. But here's an interesting exploration of the "economics and education of suicide bombers" and of various ways that survey research and other statistical data can be used to examine terrorism's "root causes." The conclusion:
a careful review of the evidence provides little reason for optimism that a reduction in poverty or an increase in educational attainment would, by themselves, meaningfully reduce international terrorism. Any connection between poverty, education, and terrorism is indirect, complicated, and probably quite weak.
One important aspect of the question, raised almost in passing in this article, is that problems arise not simply from lack of education but also from the wrong sort of education:
Jessica Stern has observed many madrasahs, or religious schools, in Pakistan are funded by wealthy industrialists, and that those schools deliberately educate students to become foot soldiers and elite operatives in various extremist movements around the world. She further reported that "most madrasahs offer only religious instruction, ignoring math, science, and other secular subjects important for functioning in modern society." These observations suggest that, in order to use education as part of a strategy to reduce terrorism, the international community should not limit itself to increasing years of schooling, but should consider very carefully the content of education.