“Pashto? You want to learn Pashto?” I looked at my 11-year-old son in astonishment. He has just sat his 11-plus exam but even if he gets in to the local selective day school, Pashto is not on the curriculum. Pashto is the senior of the two state languages of Afghanistan, article 20 of whose constitution states that the Afghan National Anthem “shall be in Pashto”. So why does Cost Centre #3 suddenly want to learn a language that he has never heard spoken before? Because he believes that Britain will still be sending troops to Afghanistan by the time he is old enough to serve his country – and he wants to be ready.
“普什圖語(yǔ)？你想學(xué)普什圖語(yǔ)？”我驚訝地看著11歲大的兒子。他剛參加完小學(xué)畢業(yè)考，但即使他進(jìn)入當(dāng)?shù)氐木⑺搅⒆咦x學(xué)校，課程表上也不會(huì)有普什圖語(yǔ)。普什圖語(yǔ)是阿富汗兩種官方語(yǔ)言中地位較高的一種，該國(guó)憲法第20條規(guī)定，阿富汗國(guó)歌“將采用普什圖語(yǔ)”。那么，“成本中心3號(hào)”為何突然想學(xué)一門他此前從未聽(tīng)別人講過(guò)的語(yǔ)言呢？原因是，他相信，直到他到了足夠效忠國(guó)家的年紀(jì)時(shí)，英國(guó)將仍在向阿富汗派駐軍隊(duì)——而他想做好準(zhǔn)備。