Why Should Afghanistan Exist?

I have always been a fan of political geography and it is actually a rather consequential topic. The imperial powers made a real mess of things over the past two hundred years. It is time for the UN and the US to think outside the box and peacefully correct some of the historic errors made while crafting borders. A good place to start would be Afghanistan.

I look at these things with a Wilsonian view. I think that borders should be crafted around the people rather than deeded real estate. Changing international borders should not be frequent, however, there should be a process to utilize through the UN when it is appropriate.

There is no "Afghan" ethnic group. It is a nation of Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Turkmen and others. They speak different languages and are primarily loyal to their tribe, not their "nation". The country could be rationally carved up by ethnic groups and joined with Turkmenistan, Takijistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan (Pashtuns). There would be a small, rump Afghan state remaining with 6mm or so population (currently 32mm) that ought to be rejoined with Iran once a worthy Persian regime emerges. Afghanistan was part of Iran until the British broke it off in the nineteenth century.

All of the countries I listed are stable, save for Pakistan. No - they are not Democratic or western, but we would not need to maintain troops there to protect the local population. They have all cooperated with our Afghan war efforts. We can work with the Pakistanis and assist from outside with respect to Al-Quieda and the Taliban. We already have bases in several of the "stans" I listed.

We could possibly use the chip of new territory to encourage the Iranians on the nuclear issue and Pakistan regarding Jammu and Kashmir. Why not? What is the downside? Why prop up a country without a national identity when we can solve a major geopolitical problem and unify Afghan citizens with their cross border kin?