General Sir David Richards, the head of the Army, has argued that future planning should focus on the ground troops that lead the mission in Afghanistan and would do so in similar conflicts in future. Sir Stephen challenged that view, suggesting that Afghanistan may be the exception, not the rule, for future conflict.
We're out of Afghan soon - I wonder where else then, Richards sees the army deployed in similar escapades? Perhaps the political incentive just isn't there to repeat the 'mistakes' of the past bushfighting decade. And it probably doesn't matter when it was written - it adds weight to the (timeless) theory that too much time is spent re-fighting the last war, and not enough anticipating the next (however different it might be).