British soldiers are 'exasperated' by the Afghan forces, general admits "You only have to look back two or three years to see how far they've come," Gen Shirreff told BBC Radio 4"s The World At One. Look at what they're doing now on the ground. It's a fact that Afghan brigades are routinely planning and executing operations independently or with advisors on the ground. That doesn't mean to say they are completely there. I completely acknowledge that there remain deficiencies and gaps in terms of combat support, issues with administration, issues with leadership and command. But all these are areas that can be put right. Gen Shirreff appeared to accept a recent report issued by the Pentagon which said that only one out of every 23 Afghan brigades is able to work independently of American or Nato forces. That's an important report and I'm not in any way going to minimise that report. But the fact remains across the board increasingly Afghan brigades are capable of operating on their own," he said. Gen Shirreff said that "security is without question getting better." However the general described so-called "green on blue" insider attacks by Afghans as a "grim and insidious business." "I don't in any way minimise the threat of insider attacks, but it's not deflecting us from our task, and it's not having any major detrimental effect on our operational impact," he said. I come back [from Afghanistan] optimistic. The situation is moving in exactly the right direction.