By persuading the population that they're going to be better off with their institutions than the Taliban's institutions, that acts to physically separate as well as mentally separate.

Ultimately counter-insurgencies are about winning an argument, they're about persuading people to go one way or the other and of course if we can talk to people then that may well be a quicker solution than shooting them."

FACING UP TO TIME PRESSURES

"We don't have the luxury of time, but 18 months ago there were probably 1,500 American soldiers in the south. There are now 25,000.

There'll be a tipping point when the population will suddenly realise that it's worth being with its government's institutions

'Time against' Afghan forces

And there's an awful lot more resources coming into the south as well ... with this amount of effort I think that we do have an opportunity, during the course of the next year, to make a difference.

But I absolutely acknowledge that time is not on our side, and we've got to show positive trends as quickly as we possibly can."

WINNING AFGHAN HEARTS AND MINDS

"We can't be everywhere... what we've got to do is to focus on achievable objectives and, I think, security where we know the population is living and freedom of movement on the key highways so that the Afghan economy can start to kick-start itself, and the people can begin to take a stake in their community.

It's about fundamentally getting [the Afghan community] to realise that the institutions that we are partnering and the governance arrangements that our reconstructions teams are helping and developing are worth supporting...

I think that it will happen slowly, but… there'll be a tipping point when the population will suddenly realise that it's worth being with its government's institutions rather than with the insurgent."