Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and some others associated with the Peninsula Shield defensive agreements within the GCC are now in Yemen. The U.S. is also involved in some ways. The war against the Houthis has begun in earnest.

Some may think this may be a sufficient way to resolve the collapse of Yemen and the turmoil that has resulted from that collapse, but it clearly will not be. The military side is likely going to be more tactical than strategic in order to try to quiet things down – and it may not even do that. Economic, educational, informational, diplomatic and other sources of power also need to be used over the long run.

Saudi Arabia has clearly stated support for Hadi, the Sunni leader, who recently fled the Aden area in the south of the country. Iran supports the Houthis of the north. The Iranians and the Houthis are Shia, but from different sects. The Houthis are fiver Shia, not twelver Shia as most Iranians. Even so, Iran supports the Houthis. Saudi Arabia supports the Sunnis.

Yemen is yet another proxy battle in the Sunni-Shia divide, along with those that have been happening in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. ISIS is in Yemen. It is not supported by the Saudi government as is Hadi, a Sunni leader of Yemen. Within Yemen there are many tribal, ethnic and other distinctions and differences, but the big battle is Sunni-Shia ostensibly. The overarching battle here is over power and control of the country.

Yemen is a poor country. It is resource poor. It is so water short the capital, Sana’a, will likely have to move. Many other cities will begin to increasingly dry up in the next few years and surely will be under extremely severe water stress.  Most of the water use in Yemen is to grow the narcotic Qat. Yemen has to import most of its food. The best lands go to growing Qat. This is because getting the water out from deeper and deeper wells gets more and more expensive and a cash crop is needed that pays the water and other costs. Yemen is running out of oil and natural gas. Its pipelines are attacked and damaged regularly in tribal and other disputes.  Its electricity system is mostly in disrepair.

It is water short, energy short, food short, and is heading for worse if nothing is done. And little can be done with the conflict that is happening. This is the time when Yemen should be trying to solve its water, energy and food problems, yet it has fallen into violence and chaos and it could get a lot worse.

Yemen is a failing state that is likely already over the precipice of the point of no return of ultra-violence and state collapse. The Sunni-Shia proxy war and the resource conflict that is one of the driving forces of anger and dissent, along with poverty, inequality, corruption, and more could splinter Yemen into many sub-states or even non-state actors in control of vast territories. Yemen is not a small place.

Yemen straddles the Bab al Mandab, a vital waterway of world class importance for energy and cargo traffic. Its neighbors include Somalia, and we all know the troubles there with piracy and terror. There are vital fiber optic communications systems off the coast of Yemen. Oman, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and more are at proximate risk if Yemen dissolves as a state. The entire region is at risk as well if Yemen, already a haven for Al Qaeda in the Arabia Peninsula, become a massive base for violent extremists, pirates, criminals and others.

Yemen is important. The situation there cannot and should not be neglected. The malignant neglect of various areas in the Middle East must end.

The turmoil has really just begun. If we sit idly by making statements of condemnation and other emasculated and emasculating responses we could quite easily see another Afghanistan in the making. But Yemen could be even more dangerous given its nearness to major oil and gas fields, transport and communications chokepoints and more. It is also an explosive element in the increasingly dangerous Sunni-Shia divide. It is also full of hungry, unemployed and thirsty people.

Are you ready for that? I doubt it.

Are the region and the world ready to think about something beyond just the military as the solution to some of the problems of this sad and tumultuous place? I hope so, but it does not seem they are at that stage of thinking yet. To bring this vital humpty-dumpty state back together again, even sort of, will require all of the elements of power – diplomatic, informational, military, and economic – and over a very long run. This might quickly turn into a global problem and a very big one, unless we get smart strategically for once.

The option? Yemen of today could turn into Afghanistan of the 1990s on steroids – and a lot sooner than most may think.

Sullivan is a professor of Economics at the National Defense University and adjunct professor of Security Studies at Georgetown University.