Why you should care

Terrorism isn't isolated
Just imagine if 276 girls had been kidnapped in the United States -- the response would be mass outrage and a forceful demand for a response.
Consider its ties to al Qaeda
How closely related Boko Haram is to al Qaeda is hard to define, but the United States says it has links.
The inhumane treatment of children concerns us all
"I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah," said a man claiming to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in the video first obtained by Agence France-Presse. If the claim proves true, the 276 teen girls could become child brides or sex slaves.
The parents' hands are tied
Any parent can only imagine the horror of a child getting kidnapped. Now multiply that by 276 and add the fear of a volatile terrorist group.
What happens in Nigeria has deeper repercussions
Nigeria boasts Africa's largest economy. But internal problems can have a ripple effect far and wide.
The Nigerian response has been feeble
Two days after the kidnappings, the Nigerian military said all but eight of the girls were free. That turned out to be untrue, prompting the father of one of the abducted girls to say the government had gone from using "blatant propaganda" to telling "blatant lie."
This can't be business as usual
With a World Economic Forum set to begin today in the capital city of Abuja, the Nigerian government is under mounting pressure to find and save the girls. The U.S. government is offering to help, but said Nigeria must take the lead in finding the students.