I realise my plane is touching down on the runway in Italy. All I can do is repeat to myself the promise I’ve always made to our colleagues back in Afghanistan, and which I intend to keep: to return.

‘Some of the hugs they give me literally make me quiver’

There’s one thing I’m sure of and that’s the pure, gentle love that exists between a father and son. Just for a moment, it gives you a glimpse of beauty amid the horror of this war.