This is thanks mainly to a renewed focus on the urgent need to produce Afghan security forces to take over and allow Nato's own combat troops to leave.
The UK has made clear its combat forces will be out by the end of 2014, albeit with a commitment to further training the ANA.
That there has been progress in that training is not in doubt, not least when compared with the kind of kit and training received by the gloriously named 1 Bang (1st Battalion the Afghan National Guard) back in the early days of 2002.
British and US commanders in Afghanistan are keen to describe most recent operations as "Afghan-led", while doing their best to play down the problems that remain.
However, in private, few working on the training mission underestimate the challenges of trying to produce a professional Afghan army that will survive Nato's departure, and be able to operate on its own, from planning and launching operations to providing logistical support.
Recruitment Targets
Out on patrol with British forces working alongside ANA units, there are indeed some committed, brave, decently trained and well-motivated young soldiers amongst the ANA, as well as some fearsome and hardened generals who have spent a lifetime fighting.
And the soldiers themselves are welcomed more warmly by Afghans in Helmand and Kandahar than their counterparts in the Afghan police, who are often still feared or hated as corrupt and lawless.
