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"How do you turn willing but unskilled and illiterate young men into professional police officers? Put a brawny, no-nonsense Glaswegian in charge.

Major Jake MacKay is responsible for educating the next generation of police in Helmand. He has 500 recruits in his training centre at the moment attending an 8 week course. Most of them can't read or write so lessons rely heavily on practical, hands-on presentations aided by some slapstick humour. The British trainers can often be see running into the nearby hill chased by the new recruits if they fail to remember to secure their captives.

As promised, I've finally managed to get away from military bases and speak to some ordinary Afghans. These pictures were taken in Marjah, where I've been visiting with the aid of the US marines for the past few days (more about that on Broadcasting House on Sunday)

You can't really call Marjah a town - its more a collection of settlements, each of varying size. Cotton is one of the staple cash crops around here (as well as poppy) but the progress of the past couple of months is seen in the small bazaars that pop up at various road junctions and by the fact that many more children are now going to school, however makeshift their surroundings."

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