He said he was told to take two tablets just before carrying out the bombing, so he would feel no pain. Intelligence officers say he was captured with the drugs.

 

Einullah looked unsettled throughout the interview, and he contradicted himself a number of times.

 

He told us that he has a problem with his nerves and that he had been well treated throughout his time in the intelligence department prison. That, like everything he said, is impossible to verify.

 

Increasing attacks

 

Two days ago, a suicide bomber struck in Kabul. Afghanistan has seen decades of bloodshed but this sort of attack is relatively new.

 

There were no suicide bombs ever reported in the long war against the Soviet Union.

 

Emadullah says he was told to wait by a main  road for American troops

Intelligence officials say they have captured many would-be attackers, mostly Pakistanis. However, they were only willing to give us access to two prisoners.

The second was Emadullah, who comes from Peshawar, close to Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

He said: "They gave me a motorbike on the main road. They told me when the American [troops] come, press this button, and you will explode.

"My wish was that I would go to paradise but I didn't do it because then I thought Muslims might also be killed in this."

We asked to see the cells where the prisoners are kept so we could verify their conditions for ourselves. We were told this wasn't possible for security reasons.