Afghan president Hamid Karzai paid tribute today to the mothers of British soldiers who have died fighting in his country, saying: "We understand your suffering."

On a visit to Wellington Barracks in central London, Mr Karzai met with veterans who have been severely injured in the Afghan campaign and thanked them for their sacrifice.

The president, who was joined by the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir David Richards, said he wanted to meet the soldiers and their families personally.

He paid particular tribute to mothers whose sons have been injured or killed, saying: "The pain of that mother, the suffering of that mother is an enormous weight on the people of Afghanistan.

"They suffer with her, they understand.

"There are mothers in Afghanistan who have gone through the same experience and the same pain."

He continued: "I'm happy to be here and I'm humbled to be here.

"I wish I could find the words that my heart would like to speak out here to those mothers.

"And right now I would simplify it by telling them, those mothers and families, that we understand their suffering and pain, that there are millions of mothers in Afghanistan who feel exactly the same way."

Mr Karzai said he was "honoured" to visit the barracks, adding: "The British people, the British Army, the Government of Britain, have been at the forefront of the struggle against terrorism and the rebuilding and stability of Afghanistan."

He thanked British servicemen and women, saying they "have sacrificed their life in order to defeat our common foe, terrorists, extremists, radicals, and in order to build Afghanistan into a more secure, more stable country for the people of Afghanistan and by extension for the rest of the world".

He said he hoped the end result would be "a prosperous Afghanistan, a peaceful Afghanistan, and an Afghanistan that gets ever closer to Britain".

He added: "I hope that we will have occasions where we have visits to Afghanistan for tourism and for vacation and to enjoy it."

Mr Karzai was introduced to members from all three of the Armed Forces.

Several of the soldiers bore injuries from the Afghan campaign.

They included Lance Corporal David Timmins, 29, of 11 EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, the Army's specialist bomb disposal unit.

L/Cpl Timmins, who has served three tours in Afghanistan, was wearing an eye patch after losing an eye in an IED blast.

Gen Richards told Mr Karzai: "They are the very brave people who the rest of us are totally dependent on.

"Of course we haven't got enough of them. We're growing more and more but we don't grow them on trees, so we're struggling. 

"If there's one thing we need to do it's to deal with these IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) because it's morale-sapping." 

He added that morale was very high and quoted Napoleon, saying: "Morale is three times more important than equipment."