The counterinsurgency road to success in Afghanistan

The Belmont Club has a video of a failed Taliban attempt to attack a US convoy and goes on to excerpt from David Kilcullen the importance of roads in defeating insurgents.

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Like the Romans, counterinsurgents through history have engaged in road-building as a tool for projecting military force, extending governance and the rule of law, enhancing political communication and bringing economic development, health and education to the population. Clearly, roads that are patrolled by friendly forces or secured by local allies also have the tactical benefit of channeling and restricting insurgent movement and compartmenting terrain across which guerrillas could otherwise move freely. But the political impact of road-building is even more striking than its tactical effect.

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Insurgents rely on what I call a raiding strategy which needs to have ambiguity as to the time and place of attack to be effective and also needs to have the ability to retreat. Defeating insurgents requires that you be able to intercept their movement to contact or their retreat. Roads and fortifications both help. Like fences, roads tend to channel traffic to places were the enemy can be intercepted. They also facilitate the pursuit by the counter insurgents.