SOLDIERS are in danger of being forgotten when they return from Afghanistan, ­leaving many vulnerable to problems like debt and dependency on drink and drugs, The Scottish Poppy Appeal chief has warned.

All British troops are due to be pulled out of Afghanistan next year after 12 years in the country.

Ian McGregor, chief executive of Poppyscotland, fears that after the initial publicity on their return the soldiers will be ­forgotten by the public and many will end up in trouble.

He said: "I worry that attention will move on. People don't talk about Iraq very much, or Bosnia at all. The danger is the men and women of Afghanistan are forgotten - that is the lesson of history.

"We are very poor at history in this country. People don't read it and they don't learn the lessons of it and one of the lessons is that, after a conflict, there will be respect, but attention moves on."

Around 6000 British men and women are currently serving in Afghanistan but 800 of them will come home by the end of this year prior to a bigger withdrawal next year.

Mr McGregor believes the end of the operation will lead to many soldiers leaving the army altogether, and says many of them will end up in difficulties.

He said: "Often people are recruited into the forces from difficult backgrounds. They are often very young and with poor qualifications.

"They've left to get away from problems so where do they go when they've finished? They go back where they came from and the problems they left are still there.

"The army gives them structure and self-respect but they lose that and go back to square one."

However, Mr McGregor believes the UK is much better placed than at the start of the war in Afghanistan to help the returning troops.

He said: "The obvious deficiencies in care for the wounded have largely been addressed and there are much better networks."

Poppyscotland has also been improving its services and has opened a new centre in Inverness, the first time the organisation has had a permanent presence outside the central belt.

Mr McGregor believes his ­charity, which last year raised £2.58 million through its poppy appeal, has to keep the profile of veterans high.

He said: "You have to keep remembrance going. We have to be proactive in drawing people's attention."

He said he believed the public had lost its appetite for foreign adventures - if it ever had one - but was good at separating the politics of the conflict from the soldiers and what they had been through.

He said: "This was has been a particularly intense campaign. If you go out on patrol, there's a good chance someone is going to have a pop at you or someone steps on a mine."

He said the average person going through Poppyscotland's Armed Services Advice project, which offers free help to ex-service people, will present with about five problems which could be debt or difficulties with housing or alcohol.

He said Poppyscotland would also be involved in some of the events next year to mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War but said it was important to get the tone right.

He said: "Forget the word ­celebration. It should be sombre, reflective, a period of four years of events and commemorations which make us reflect on the change it wrought on society in all sorts of ways and to learn what lessons one can."