Sir: I am writing in reference to Musa Khan Jalalzai’s article, ‘The question of an independent Khorasan state’ (Daily Times, March 31, 2011. Robert Blackwell is not the first strategist to propose the partition of Afghanistan; a similar exit strategy was also proposed by the Soviets in 1987, which was rejected because the resistance movement against the Soviet occupation was broad-based — it consisted of Pashtuns, Tajiks and others — and the driving force behind the movement was composite nationalism, not Islamism. The resistance movement against the current US occupation, however, is not broadly based — it is spearheaded mostly by Pashtuns, the vast majority of whom live in southern Afghanistan. There is hardly any resistance movement in northern Afghanistan because the majority of the population does not support the Taliban. Under these circumstances, what could be a better way to avoid further brutality of the Afghan population than to partition the country along ethnic lines? The strategy may not be perfect, but in the absence of any easy, quick and cost-free way to escape the current quagmire, it is the best option. RANDHIR SINGH BAINS UK