but the division between the haves and have nots is appalling. I think my flight from Kabul to Dubai summed up how different two places can be - mind you, don't assume that one is good and one is bad. There is much to be said for some of the simplicity of life in Bamiyan - the food, albeit limited, was delicious, the air was pure, people talked to one another, you didn't choke on the fumes of SUVs, no-one was obese, children were safe to walk the streets, and so on. There was a medieval feel to the place which contained certain elements to recommend it. But the lack of clean accessible water, the privations of the health and education systems, the harshness of the work, the omnipotence of the military – all these are major long-term problems throughout Afghanistan.

8. What made you decide to make a feature-length film, rather than a TV documentary?

I am an enthusiastic advocate of the feature-length documentary. Indeed, to me, they are simply feature films made with real people rather than actors. Some of the best films I have seen over the past decade have been documentaries rather than the more traditional fiction films. Sadly, television in Britain (and worldwide) has backed away from feature docs - indeed in Britain we have seen a serious decline in the commissioning of challenging, crafted