There will be no grand battles, no sudden collapse of the enemy or grand moment when the war is declared won with the Taliban smashed by advanced electronic weaponry. This is not the war that politicians like, where they can find events to be identified with. No signings of surrender documents. No death of a big villain like Saddam.

No. Petraeus sees the big victory as nothing more than a myriad of little victories, of good day to day management, pushing out the area of security from its current hotspots or ‘oil spots’ as they are known in wars against counterinsurgency. After nine long years, the Americans have finally called on their Zhukov to bring matters towards a close in Afghanistan. He will be doing this by building trust between the parties and ensuring the critical parts of the job are completed. The FT gives details of how that will be done here.

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