From my understanding ...
1. Primary aim of the Dutch is to induce errors from the opponent.
Positionally, you'll have more success with a K-side attack unless the opponent fianchettos.
Early goal is to push e5 or g5+g6.
Consider firing the a pawn up to a5+a4 to slow down any counterplay on the queenside.
Alternatively, the opponent may choose to attack kingside, in which case it usually fails from my experience as the dutch stonewall is quite easy to defend unless they break down e6 + f5.
Cliffs:
Play for e5 or try to get a white pawn on e5, then maneuver for a kingside or queenside attack based on whites strengths weaknesses.
It can be seen in some positions as an accelerated kings indian attack, to give some idea of the structure.
Some people prefer to push c5, I prefer to leave the c pawn on 6 to support d5. d5 is often important for your king safety to shut down the a2-g8 diagonal. white will often try to pop open this diagonal and attack your king with dynamic knight moves and even a piece sacrifice on f5 or d5. Keep an eye on opponents activity, to ensure they are not building up to sac a knight or bishop on d5 or f5, as things can deteriorate rapidly.
The dark square bishop is often nice on b8 or c7 if you can sneak it in there via an early Bd6. Sometimes if white has a pawn on c4, you can trade a tempo for stronger d5, by moving your dark bishop to d4 with intention to sneak it back to b8 or c7. Often I find white will push c5 to attack the bishop, and I am very happy as it keeps the center complex closed while the bishop has found a nice place on an attacking diagonal b8-h2.
The light square bishop is quite useful for neutralizing any marauding knights which may target b7 or e6, and also can neutralize whites Q+B battery along the d1-h5 diagonal, from safety on e1.
Be careful about pushing h7 pawn to h6 as you may find an inconvenient knight on g6. Leave the pawn structure on g7 and h7 unless you have good reason to change the structure for attack or counterplay reasons.
If you can push e5, try to keep the center complex closed, so refrain from captures on c4 or e4. If a capture must happen, let white take e5 and put a knight on e6 to block.
An annoying problem I have with the Dutch is it makes it too cozy for white to push the f pawn, and it is hard to exploit the weakness.
Main thing to remember is the dutch (stonewall) is not a sharp opening, so focus on positional play rather than tactics. Timing is very important and you can win the game with a timely e5 or g5 KID-style attack, but if you don't see an opportunity, then play the position and don't over-extend yourself.
Regards,
A patzer
What is the primary aim of the Dutch Defense? Is black hoping to open the f file for an attack? As White I'm never really worried because there is plenty of time for maneuvering, compared to a sharp defense like QGA or Tarrasch.