ONLY weeks before he died, Ashley David Smith told The Press he expected Afghanistan’s Taliban fighters to be “more aggressive” towards UK forces.

The 21-year-old was among the young soldiers who spoke to the paper last month as the Catterick-based Royal Dragoon Guards prepared to deploy to the war-ravaged country.

Speaking about how the potential for danger in Afghanistan had increased because of the new poppy harvest, used by the Taliban to make heroin, Trooper Smith said: “They’re going to be more aggressive towards us.

“And the elections are taking place during our tour, so I think there’s going to be more trouble out there.”

He also spoke about how he and his comrades would use their evening “down-time” to calm each other’s nerves.

“We’ll just have a laugh with each other,” he said.

“The best thing is to work as a team and make it easier for everybody else. If you’re having a bad day, there’s always somebody who will build you up again.

“And if we know people at home are supporting us and think we’re doing a good job, that’ll lift our morale a lot.”

The 300-year-old Royal Dragoon Guards, whose motto is Quis Separabit (Who Shall Separate Us), recruit from throughout Yorkshire and Northern Ireland and have close links to York, having been given the Freedom of the City in 1999.

Before they deployed, they had been training for their Afghan mission since last July, with much of the guidance and instruction coming from troops who had just returned from their tours of duty.