Split Afghanistan Across the Middle

The United States is attempting to broker a power-sharing arrangement between the secular government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, but it is not going to work. 

The Taliban have proven themselves to be too persistent and too durable, and the secular government too weak and too corrupt. 

And, perhaps more importantly, the vision that the Taliban has for the future of women in Afghanistan is incompatible with the secular model and will be impossible to reconcile. 

If the United States pulls out, the secular government will quickly fall and Afghan women and girls will lose their freedoms.

I propose dividing Afghanistan across the middle, along a line that is roughly defined by Herat in the West and Jalalabad in the East, making good use of the Koh-I-Baba mountain range that runs through the middle of the country as a natural border. The vast majority of the residents of the three cities that fall along this line, Herat, Kabul, and Jalalabad, are opposed to Taliban rule and so are automatic candidates for inclusion in a secular Afghanistan. Also, creating an international border between the southern and northern areas will help prevent the incursion of Taliban assassins and spies who have been responsible for such suffering amongst the educated class of Afghanistan.

The fine points of the geographical division can be left to the negotiators, but physically separating the two warring groups will present the best chance of a lasting peace and will make the work of defending the secular government much easier by keeping the NATO forces out of areas controlled by Taliban sympathizers.