‘Fortress Kandahar’ in U.S. plans
Plan to encircle city with troops a tacit admission that Canada and allies have failed
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The first wave of fresh U.S. troops coming to Afghanistan will set about creating a security halo around Kandahar, where Canadian forces have spent three years trying to suppress the Taliban, according to the Wall Street Journal. The plan by U.S. commanders is an acknowledgement of sorts that the Canadian-led allied effort in the region has failed, and a recognition that Kandahar is a strategic linchpin to fighting the insurgency in the country’s mostly Pashtun south. Full marks to the American brass if it works. But critics point out the generals are following the same failed strategy the Soviets did in Afghanistan during the 1980s, retreating to city bastions while insurgents gained power in the countryside.