"Nothing I have ever seen has been quite so shocking as loving parents prepared to see their children go to a fate unknown because they have no other choice."

In this special first-person account, John Ray reflects on the shocking moment of utter desperation he found deep in the heart of Kabul earlier this year as Afghanistan sinks into the grip of a humanitarian crisis.

Having reported in the country alongside British troops during two decades of Western occupation, John gives a sober and often distressing update on the fate of the nation following the withdrawal of American forces last year.

And he recounts the previously unfathomable experience of sitting down to interview an armed member of the Taliban to question him on their promise to recognise the rights of the country's women.