There's another side to the decision, that may or may not have influenced Aragorn.
Merry and Pippin were in the hands of orcs, some Saruman's and some Saurons. If they had been delivered to either of those alive, then eventually Sauron would have discovered that Frodo was taking the ring to the fire and would have put huge effort into tracking him down, How long do you think Frodo and Sam, with or without Gollum's help would have been able to evade capture? At least by following the younger hobbits, Aragorn was not only trying to save their lives, but also to prevent Sauron finding out what was going on before it was too late to stop it.
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