One solution: Partition Afghanistan

Carlton Meyer, editor of G2mil, a warfare research portal, looks at the Military Options in Afghanistan. He cites and analyzes five variants of military solutions and their costs in money and American deaths:

1. Cruise missile attacks ($4 billion – 0 dead)
   

2. Carpet Bombing strikes ($6 billion – 4 dead
   

3. Ranger Raids ($2 billion – 50 dead)
   

4. Send in helicopter brigades ($20 billion – 1000 dead)
   

5. Land several divisions and overrun Afghanistan ($100 billion – 6000 dead)
   

He ends the list with what is really a political option: partition Afghanistan along ethnic lines and join those sections up with the appropriate (parent) country: Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran (Here’s his map showing the partition. He estimates the cost at $10 billion but as opposed to the other options all this money goes to economic and humanitarian aid to make the scheme work.

Meyer’s final analysis: “As for the problem of Afghanistan, just partition it and the problem is solved with little loss of life.” Not a bad idea at all.