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For days now we’ve been watching scenes of both chaos and hope at Kabul airport - western forces trying to evacuate their own citizens and disparate Afghan groups by the 31st August deadline. Yet while most TV cameras have focused largely on the drama at Kabul airport, it’s the destiny of the whole of Afghanistan which is at stake. It’s often said that war doesn’t determine who is right, only who is left. The speculation on what kind of Islamic law the Taliban will administer has again focused attention on sharia - what will it mean for women, for religious minorities and for the lgbt communities, many of whom fear their lives will simply disappear from in front of them. Sadly this may be true because when a regime speaks of implementing sharia it can often be a shortcut for wanting to rule with absolute control, fear and oppression. Yesterday on this programme, Lord Richards, former chief of the Defence staff, said that the international community has got to accept its failure and defeat in Afghanistan and that we need to find a strategy that allows the Afghan people to have a future again. This requires accepting the reality on the ground, that if we really want to help, we have to be prepared to engage with the millions of people left behind and those who are now in control. We know that the Taliban can deliver a brutal order, but it remains to be seen how they will deliver on infrastructure, building hospitals, water supplies and electrical systems and offering the kind of education that gives people hope and purpose. For much of this, they’ll need external help. In the last 20 years, many Afghans have breathed new ways of living through greater education, artistic freedoms and exposure to the democratic rights enjoyed by more peaceful nations. We can continue to find ways to develop civil society working alongside the men and women who persevere despite the threats of brutality and ethnic conflict. The Qur’anic phrase `God doesn’t change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves,’ gives us the blessing and burden of moral agency – that notwithstanding the worst excesses of religious ideologies, with courage, people can aspire to realise a country of new hopes. Not everyone can escape or wants to escape- many stay behind to rebuild and resist –to find salvation in their homeland even when the distant wings of an airplane promises a different dream.