After Carthage had come to the end of his sermon, Qazi had addressed the group in perfect English. ‘My companion soldiers were very brave and energetic, and they are very eager to bring peace and stability to the area, to Afghanistan and to the region as a whole.’

Carthage had started to clap. He was keen to get on with his day, but Qazi wasn’t done. Carthage lowered his hands and kept smiling.

‘In fact, sir, Afghanistan’s forces will soon be in a position to defend every province and not allow any foreign invaders to use our country ever again.’

Carthage’s lipless smile twitched at the edges, working hard to pretend he hadn’t caught the thinly veiled slight.

Now Qazi appeared to be alone, finishing his cigarette under the ghostly orange of the floodlights. He turned and levelled his gaze as Tom approached.

‘As-salamu’ alaykum.’

‘Peace be with you too,’ replied Qazi in English.

‘Saw you in front of the cameras today.’

‘I do what I can.’ He shrugged as if he didn’t want to be reminded and took another long pull on the roll-up pinched between his fingers as he wiped his other hand on his thigh. ‘The major general was very generous.’ He snorted. ‘I saw on CNN that the war’s getting closer to home for you now.’

‘Sad, but true. The only way this ends is if we stand together.’

Qazi looked blank.

‘Shona be shona.’

Qazi grinned, recognizing the ISAF motto in Dari. ‘“Shoulder to shoulder.” Of course.’ He turned back to the end of his cigarette.

Tom had learned a fair bit about the ANA on his tours. They were a mixed bunch, from various tribal backgrounds, and not by any means always loyal to the government. Some pragmatic families had hedged their bets by sending one son to the ANA and another to fight with the Taliban. But the biggest attraction was the $240 a month, not bad in a country where pay averaged $614 a year.

Like soldiers the world over, they complained about everything – it was part of the job description – but they had now actually begun to look more like soldiers. They didn’t always use body armour and helmets but they had them, along with boots. They told Tom they didn’t like the American-issued M16s and, when he asked why, explained they weren’t strong enough: the Russian AKs they were used to didn’t break when they used them to hit people.