If we accept that the "trinity" of the people, the political leadership, and the armed forces is an appropriate construct (and I think it is ), then I think what we may be missing in the whole AF AOR is that there is not one Afghan trinity and one Taleban trinity--there's a bunch of them. That is the value of the section from the new CGs guidance about taking a regional approach. Too bad folks on top don't seem to have noticed that Afghanistan is about as much a single nation as Yugoslavia was (or the Congo and Somilia are for that matter). BTW, the comment from Coldstreamer about the lack of unity in the ISAF/NAC/EU/International Community is also reflective of the fact that each side in a conflict has a trinity, or many trinities, to deal with. This is not a simple "my tribe V. your tribe conflict," the ideal case of CvC's model for war. Nor is it a simple case of "We monarchies united against you stinking, regicide populist French revolutionaries to maintain/restore the status quo"--the recent environment which framed "On War." CvC has lessons that apply. Folks just need to make sure that they get applied in the right contexts and at the right levels.