Predictions of famine and other winter woes have not come true.

ECONOMIST: A puzzling progress

"They will certainly need all that training, because this is an inhospitable place in winter - and don't forget plenty of armies in the past have come unstuck in Afghanistan, " he said.

BBC: UK troops set for Afghan role

"I think the two times I've taken my longest breaks have been after my knee surgery in 2002 and this past winter, and both times I've come back and won, " he added.

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