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Former British Army officer Capt James Cadbury has one distinct memory from his nine-month tour of Afghanistan, during which he was involved in heavy fighting.
In December 2007, his mobile brigade had been ordered to drive to Musa Qala, in southern province Helmand, to help recapture the area from the Taliban.
“During the battle, a man sauntered up to our line, and asked to speak to the commander,” recalled Capt Cadbury, who has lived in Dubai for 12 years, and works as a strategy consultant in the region.
“He smiled broadly, was oddly charming and clearly not a goat herder. He asked me plainly why we bothered to fight, 'because we are patient, and you will leave, some day'."
That day has now come. As the Taliban negotiate the surrender of Afghan capital Kabul and western forces evacuate their remaining citizens, Capt Cadbury is filled with bitter regret for the lives lost and ruined.
“Early on, it became clear we could not win 'the fight' in the long term,” said Capt Cadbury, who was in the King's Royal Hussars regiment and based in Helmand province.
“The Taliban blended into the community and no one was going to point them out. Because if the Taliban saw you working with their enemies, they didn't just kill you, they killed your family.
“We spoke to one village elder about delivering medical supplies. It took days before he would even speak to us.
“Finally, he accepted the supplies and the Taliban killed him the following week, as a lesson to the rest of the village.
“The message to locals was clear: 'Don't even talk to them, just ignore them, don't accept their help. We are your help, we are your salvation, we are here to stay and they will leave.'
“This is what was happening on a national level. It was soul destroying.”
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Afghan women, holding placards, gather to demand the protection of women's rights in front of the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. -
A person holds the flag of Afghanistan during a protest against support for the Taliban, in Berlin, Germany. -
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid speaks at his first news conference in Kabul. -
Taliban fighters stand guard outside the Green Zone where most of the embassies are situated. -
Afghan security forces patrol on humvee vehicle along a road in Bazarak town of Panjshir province. -
Schoolgirls sit in a schoolyard in Herat. -
Afghans wait outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport to flee the country. -
A Taliban fighter raises their flag on a vehicle as they patrol in Kandahar. -
French citizens and their Afghan colleagues wait to board a French military transport plane at the airport in Kabul after the Taliban's stunning military takeover of the Afghanistan. -
French soldiers at the airport in Kabul as they arrive to help French citizens and their Afghan colleagues to flee after the Taliban takeover. -
A US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft filled with about 640 Afghans fleeing to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan. -
Crowds on the tarmac of Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan. Several people were reportedly killed at the airport on August 16 as Afghans tried to hang on to a moving US military plane leaving the airport. -
A satellite photo shows swarms of people on the tarmac at Kabul International Airport, also known as Hamid Karzai International Airport. Afghans rushed on to the tarmac of the capital's airport on Monday as thousands tried to flee the country after the Taliban seized power with stunning speed. -
A traffic jam outside Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan after Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar declared victory and an end to the decades-long war in the country. President Ashraf Ghani fled and conceded that the insurgents had won the 20-year war. -
Qari Muhammad Hanif, centre, director of the Taliban's cultural and Information department, talks to journalists in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. -
Humvee vehicles from the Afghan Security Forces in Panjshir province, Afghanistan. -
Thousands of Afghans rushed to Hamid Karzai International Airport in an attempt to flee the Afghan capital, Kabul. -
Afghans on the tarmac at Kabul airport in Kabul after a swift end to the 20-year war in the country. Thousands of people mobbed the city's airport trying to flee the group's rule. -
A US soldier keeps close watch on Afghan passengers at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul. Thousands of people packed the airport trying to flee Taliban rule. -
Passengers sit inside a plane as they wait to leave the runway of Kabul after the stunningly swift end of Afghanistan’s 20-year war. -
People climb on top of a plane in Kabul. -
People try to enter Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. -
People cross the boundary wall of Hamid Karzai International Airport to flee the country after rumours that foreign countries were removing people even without visas. -
Taliban fighters stand guard along a roadside near Zanbaq Square in Kabul. -
A Taliban fighter sits on his motorcycle by a road in Shahr-e Naw, Kabul. -
Talibs patrol the streets of Kabul as the militants take control of Afghanistan. after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. -
Afghans gather on the asphalt at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul. -
Afghans gather by the runway in Kabul as US soldiers stand guard. -
Taliban fighters on a police vehicle outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. -
Baradar Akhund, a senior official of the Taliban, with a group of men, makes a video statement. -
Taliban fighters take control of the presidential palace in Kabul, after Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. -
Passengers from Kabul arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India. -
Families on a motorway trying to flee Kabul. -
Afghan security forces on patrol in Kabul. -
People line up outside Azizi Bank to withdraw cash during a run on deposits. -
Taliban fighters use a captured Afghan security forces vehicle at a checkpoint in Herat. -
Ahmadullah Muttaqi, centre left, the Taliban's director for information and culture, addresses journalists. -
Police officers conduct their duties after the Taliban took control of Kandahar. -
People prepare to cross into Afghanistan, at Pakistan's Chaman border. Pakistani authorities reopened the border with Afghanistan on August 13 after it had been closed for several days. -
Afghans wait in long lines for hours to get visas at the Iranian embassy, in Kabul. -
Taliban fighters patrol after taking control of Jalalabad. -
Smoke rises near the US embassy in Kabul. Taliban fighters reached the outskirts of the Afghan capital on Sunday. -
Anti-missile decoy flares are used by US Black Hawk military helicopters, while a surveillance blimp flies over Kabul. -
An Afghan soldier keeps watch on a street in Kabul. -
Taliban fighters and local people gather in Jalalabad province, east of Kabul. -
Taliban fighters sit on an Afghan Army Humvee in Jalalabad province. -
Taliban fighters travel along a street in Jalalabad province. -
A US Chinook military helicopter flies over the US embassy in Kabul. -
Heavily armed Taliban fighters gather in eastern Laghman province. -
Militants wave a Taliban flag from the back of a pickup truck in Jalalabad. -
Taliban fighters drive through the streets of Laghman province. -
People head to the departures area of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul as the Taliban approach the city. -
A man sells Taliban flags in western province Herat. -
Taliban fighters travel in an Afghan Army vehicle in Herat. -
Taliban forces patrol a street in Herat. -
Taliban militants raise their flag as they gather a day after taking control of key southern city Kandahar. -
Members of the Afghan security forces stand guard along the roadside in Panjshir province. -
Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani and acting defence minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi visit a military site in Kabul. -
Internally displaced families from northern provinces take shelter in a public park in Kabul. -
Families that fled their homes because of fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces take shelter in a public park in Kabul. -
Many of those seeking safety in Kabul have been sleeping on the streets. -
Thousands of those internally displaced have been arriving in Kabul. -
Afghans have been waiting for hours in long queues outside the passport office in Kabul, with many people desperate to leave the country.
In total, 457 British and 2,312 US military personnel were killed fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Tens of thousands were injured, many losing limbs from roadside bombs.
The western coalition adapted to the threat, with the British using improved armoured personnel vehicles, including the Mastiff, that could absorb the blasts.
But forces suffered regular casualties, damaging morale and leaving personnel with deep, unseen trauma.
Remarkably, no one in Capt Cadbury's squadron of 40 men was killed, but several were wounded in a rocket attack early in their mission, suffering life-changing injuries.
As he watched American troops withdraw this year and the Taliban advance, Capt Cadbury felt a deep anger – and a deeper sorrow.
“It was an almost politically impossible position. Those who look at the larger strategic piece knew that it was something that couldn't carry on indefinitely,” he said.
“But tens of thousands of people have been lost, damaged, and mentally scarred – and the end result is this.”
His experience of the Taliban has left him in no doubt of what awaits the residents of newly occupied towns and cities.
“Millions of women will be at the mercy of the Taliban, who will remove many of their rights, and that is one of the greatest tragedies,” said Capt Cadbury, the father of twin girls, aged 6.
“There are teenagers who have never known Taliban rule, girls who have been educated, and now they are going to be dragged back to the Stone Age.
“There will be pockets of absolute savagery, and there's now nothing we can do now, but watch. And that is the single greatest tragedy.”
