Helmand despatch: 'Pakistan is the true enemy'
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towards a line of trees where the Taliban attacks come from.
"That's where our enemy is," said Habibullah Shamalany, 58, standing
outside a police fortress, the ground around his feet littered with
discarded cartridge cases from recent battles. "Their shadow
government begins over there."
Mr Shamalany is a close ally of the British soldiers who patrol the
dangerous roads around Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital 20 miles
away. The Taliban sow fear in the villages, he said, but it is
Pakistan that is the true enemy of Afghans like him.
"It is Pakistan that trains, funds and leads them. When we capture
their fighters they confess that they are trained in Pakistan. The
Pakistanis find religious boys, give them weapons, and send them
across the border into Afghanistan to kill us, and to kill your
British soldiers."
Villagers grunted in agreement. "Pakistan is against Afghanistan, they
want to destroy us," said Mullah Yar Gul, 29, to approval.