What are the Afghan police like?

Training local police is a major part of the British mission in Afghanistan but the deaths of five British soldiers killed in an attack by an Afghan police officer have raised many questions. Ex-army captain Doug Beattie, who used to train Afghan officers, explains the dangers of the job, why it's important and what the Afghan police are really like.

Ex-army captain Doug Beattie says the training of Afghan police is important

Are you surprised at what's happened?

What were they like to work with?

That must be very disheartening for the British troops training them?

Glowing tributes have been paid to the five soldiers killed in the attack

We've had many texts in from serving soldiers. I want to read one of them to you. This one's from Jaime who's an ex-Royal Blue. He says: "We got told in our training, 'You can trust an Afghan with your life, until he gets a better offer'." Is that true?

That must be very depressing for the soldiers going out there, putting their lives at risk?

In your experience, to what extent has the police there been infiltrated by the Taliban?

Doug Beattie was in the army for 27 years with the Royal Irish Regiment

It must be a hard job to train these people?