As an armchair, amateur "pundit", I say: Send in the Marines!...
...and the US Army Corp of Engineers, too...to Mazar-El-Sharif, NOW!
4000 leathernecks can protect the city and airstrip, there...and also serve in the tactical role of protecting the rightflank of the anti-Taliban forces' strategic positions.
The engineers would then clear the roads of mines northward to the Uzbek,
Turkmenistan borders, and also to expand, militarize and modernize the
facilities at the airstrip near Mazar.
Oh, yes!...The airstrip there
would be a great place to base
Harriers, A-10's and Apaches.
Jake