JAMES FERGUSSON started out in journalism in 1989. He has written for many publications since, including the Independent, the European, the Daily Mail and Prospect magazine, covering current affairs in Europe, North Africa, Central Asia, the Far East and the Caribbean. His first book was the critically-acclaimed Kandahar Cockney and his most recent is A Million Bullets: The Real Story of the War in Afghanistan. He is married with two daughters and a son, and lives in Edinburgh.