Personally, I find it quite sad that our very senior officers see fit to air their dirty washing in public this way. Maybe I am missing something.
I think Afghanistan is the last Hurrah for the forseeable future. The resources will be given, for the shortest possible time, to to allow the Government to get out of the situation and 'spin' it to declare it a roaring success.
Thereafter Cameron will in no way wish to repeat the same mistakes as Blair. He will not want to be tarnished in History for commiting the country to unwinnable/unpopular/illegal(?) wars at the behest of America.
Consequently his focus is on 'different approaches' to International troubles and concentrating on 'the home front'. In other words, I am not going to use you unless hell freezes over. That means there are deep cuts to be made.
I think it will be the same if Labour is returned.
What a desperate situation.