Falling Back Is Not a Winning Strategy

Canadian forces in Afghanistan are getting a new mission. They're to fall back in defence of Kandahar City. From The Globe & Mail:

The idea behind the “ring of stability” -- or “doughnut of stability”, one soldier suggested as a more distinctly Canadian brand -- is to barricade the increasingly violent city against insurgent activity. Gen. Menard expects the ring to be in place by May, the annual start of fighting season in the country and roughly 14 months before Canada is slated to end all combat operations in Afghanistan.

Under the revised strategy, Kandahar's core will be left up to Afghanistan army and police forces, with considerable backup from U.S. military police mentors.

So it's "man the ramparts" time. That "ring of stability" is little more that circling the wagons. That is inherently defensive which means that the other side, the insurgency, is on the offensive which means they also hold the initiative. We're not taking the fight to them. We don't have to. They're going to bring it to us - when and where and how they choose. We have to spread out an already limited force to cover all approaches in case the bad guys decide to attack where we're not.

This more closely resembles a standard civil war than an insurgency. Insurgents are supposed to be kept on the defensive. We're supposed to hunt them down, fix them in place and then take the fight to them.