UK rejects Afghans' accusations

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British Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has defended the behaviour of foreign troops in Afghanistan in response to questions from local BBC listeners.

Afghans accused international forces, including British army personnel, of ignoring cultural and religious sensitivities during operations.

A Helmand man said the Taliban, by contrast, treated him with respect.

Mr Ainsworth rejected the accusations while acknowledging that foreign forces were "far from perfect".

Some 9,000 British soldiers are serving in Afghanistan, with 6,200 of them deployed in Helmand province. They are part of a mainly US force of more than 100,000 service personnel.

The BBC's Pashto service read out to Mr Ainsworth letters from readers in Helmand and Paktika, both Taliban strongholds.

'Our level best'

"When the Taliban come to my house they knock on the door, they request politely to stay, they drink tea or have something to eat, they ask about the wellbeing of myself and my family and then they go away," one Helmand listener wrote.

Bob Ainsworth became defence secretary in June 2009

"When foreign troops come to my house they bang and kick the door, they shout at every person, they point guns at even kids and women, they break every lock without asking for the key, look at us like we are from Mars, and leave us upset."

Mr Ainsworth suggested this was not a fair picture of the actual situation.

"We do our level best to avoid civilian casualties and to treat people with respect," he said.

Where soldiers did not behave appropriately, he added, complaints should be lodged with the chain of command.

"We will respond to that because we know that this is not about killing Taliban, that we will not succeed in Helmand if that is all we do, we have got to win the hearts and minds of people," he said.

Listeners accused foreign troops of "entering our houses at night and killing" civilians, and failing to understand local culture and religion.

The defence secretary said he did "not recognise that picture", adding: "I refute it, I don't believe it is true but, yes, we've got a lot to learn in terms of understanding other people's culture.

"We are far, far from perfect so we need to learn every lesson that we can."