The Afghan army is fighting its own deadly fight against the Taliban and their wounded are treated the same as coalition soldiers who find themselves in the Camp Bastion hospital.

Sifatullah, a 20-year-old soldier with the A and A (Afghan Army) had been wounded after an accident with his comrade's rifle.

When he returned to his living quarters after a patrol he picked up a colleague's rifle - mistaking it for his own - but didn’t realise it was loaded and accidentally shot himself in the thigh.

The young man from Jalalabad, who looked remarkably younger than 20, spoke through one of the five full-time translators on staff at the hospital.

Sifatullah said: “I joined the army to try and help the people of this country, my country.

“I was in Peshwar, Pakistan and I saw how the Pakistani army fought the Taliban and I wanted to do the same in my country.

“They (Taliban) have support from Pakistan and at the moment they have power in Helmand and the Helmand districts.”

“The big problem is the A and A pay, they need to be paid more for what they do and the compensation for injuries and deaths needs to be better."

In Afghanistan, because of the Taliban regime women were restricted from working and going to school therefore leaving the males as the main earners for the family.

Sifatullah said: “First off I think the president needs to be changed. If we have a good president perhaps the situation will change.

“Our defence ministry is not good enough to go it alone at the moment and we need the help of UK and US soldiers to defeat the Taliban and start rebuilding our country.

“Without the support of the UK and US the Taliban will not be defeated and they will stay here.

Sifatullah joined the Afghan Army two years ago when he was 18 with the blessing of his family, something that is vitally important in Afghanistan in stark contrast to the UK, he began his training and became a soldier of the new Afghan Army.

Sifatullah said: “My parents will tell me not to go back to the army but I would like to serve for at least another year. But, if they tell me to come home I will.

“They worry because friends of mine have been killed and murdered by the Taliban and I think they will want me to stop fighting now."

As I left the young man he said something in Pushtuun.

The interpreter said: “He would like to thank you for taking the time to talk to him.

"He said not a lot of people speak to the Afghans to ask how they feel and he would like to thank you for speaking to him and all the medical staff here for treating him so well.”

• For more from our reporter Harry Miller in Afghanistan, click here