Sean Langan

You know, I saw my best friend, who I became a journalist.

his first day at school when he came into my school and i saw him you realize everything in your life what you think is forgotten is still there in this memory i sat down i named every teacher i'd ever had from the age of five if you ask me now i'll get two names and that is the brain knowing this fucking body's fucked it's dying i don't know what it needs i'll just give it everything

And I remember going back to my first film about Western backpackers kidnapped.

The tourist, a Norwegian tourist, was beheaded.

And the reason, I read the FBI reports, was he had been quite confrontational with the captors during the captivity and had accused them of being un-Islamic.

So when it came to deciding which of these backpackers they'd behead to send a message, they chose this guy being a bit difficult.

And that's why they talk about being the grey man, to not stand out.

The other thing I read somewhere that was priceless, helped me, was it's much harder to kill a fellow human being.

than a label.

Much easier to kill labels than a fellow human being.

So step one for any hostage is to impress upon your captors that you're a fellow human being.

not just a foreigner, non-believer, journalist, spy.

And so that was what I immediately did, didn't think of escape, when the people of this house, it was like a Pashtun family house, had been told we were foreigners, unbelievers, and spies.

It was like the movie, they kind of kicked open this wooden door, throw it, not through, but just shoved a tray of food on the ground.

And the first day I stood up, and I, again, this is where, when you're asking things, I'd

I was being glib, but in fact, my 10, 15 years, I'd picked up a lot of very useful experience, which all came to play.

Everything I'd learned, not even aware I was learning how to behave, how to be polite among Muslim culture, Afghan culture, all just naturally, I had it to hand.

I was like on stage acting out a performance.

So I stood up.

I know the Afghans don't like weakness, so I wouldn't show fear, but I would...