Securing the Bridge from the Other End: Tactical Rule of Law in Non-Western Countries
Matthew Krause
Introduction
Armies have always seen bridges as key pieces of terrain, tactically and sometimes even strategically critical. Bridges allow attacking and retreating armies to cross rivers in the same direction. The retreating army wants to keep the bridge intact in order to use it at a later date to conduct a counter-attack. But, if the retreating army is in danger of destruction, the bridge must also be destroyed in order to gain valuable time and space away from the attacking army. To that end, the retreating army will secure one end of the bridge and then wait for the attacking army to approach the other side. The challenge for the attacking army is to secure the bridge so quickly that the enemy does not have the opportunity to prepare the bridge for destruction and entrench on one the other end.
This simple game of time and space presents an excellent metaphor for the challenges of transitional justice in counterinsurgencies like the one in Afghanistan.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/securing-bridge-other-end-tactical-rule-law-non-western-countries
