In Afghanistan, dozens of servicemen and women, trained to speak Dari or Pashtu in the run up to their deployment, have been using their language skills to try to bridge the cultural gap between the ISAF forces and the locals.

Lieutenant David Duffus, of the 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, who spent nine months learning Dari before arriving in Afghanistan, said: "It just shows a bit of respect - that British soldiers are putting the effort in to try to learn one; the local culture and two; the language."

Dari is spoken mainly in the north of the country rather than Helmand Province. But nine out of ten of the soldiers in the Afghan National Army speak Dari rather than Pashtu, and as an adviser to the ANA, based in Sangin, Lieutenant Duffus, of Edinburgh, has found his language skills invaluable.

He says: “It just helps you break the ice with the locals and with the ANA. I can talk directly to the soldiers without needing an interpreter and when we are under fire that can save lives – ours and theirs.

"You can get a lot more information as well out of the local nationals. They feel a bit easier if they speak to you in Pashtu or Dari directly."

Lt Duffus said his attempts to chat with the locals have sometimes been met with astonishment.

"There is one local who lives in the Green Zone who we know quite well, who speaks quite a bit of Dari. The first time I met him he wouldn't believe it at first. He thought they had dressed me up in British combats and I was really an Afghan soldier.”

He says he is picking up lots of military words, both in Dari and Pashtu. "They use some Pashtu military words even though they speak Dari and I am learning them too," he said. "Hopefully I will have quite an extensive grasp of both languages by the time I go home in the Autumn.”

Lieutenant Duffus is blogging in English and Dari on the British Army’s blogging site, www.britisharmy.wordpress.com