They've been allowed to fall into ruin for 1,000 years or more. But nevertheless, this is one of the most amazing places I've been to anywhere.

"This is an incredible rabbit warren. This whole mountain is just full of tunnels. And they all lead to little chambers which monks would've lived in or prayed in. And they all congregate around the Buddha here. Now as you can see, top of his face has been carved off, may have been Genghis Khan, may have been pilgrims, or may have been relatively recently. They burned and blackened the face as well. But you can still see, it's an incredible sculpture- one of the greatest, I think you have to say, in the world."

And then I am told the reason why they are so reluctant to let us film here. Underneath is a Taliban ammunition dump. I'm only allowed a few minutes, but it's all I need. Suddenly the frustrations and delays are long forgotten. Just think this is the place where the Buddha in human form was taken to the world.

Before we leave, Abdul has an unpleasant task to perform. It seems our driver's assistant has been spying for the religious police. Maybe it's why we had so many problems getting permission. We'll never know. But Abdul's outraged, not only because he's been spying, but because he's broken a cardinal rule of Islam by being inhospitable to strangers.

Inhospitable.

We pay him out and head for the border.

As we head back up the Khyber Pass, I begin to realize what we've achieved- we're one of the few documentary crews who've not been thrown out by the Taliban, largely because we try to stick to the spirit of their rules. And while we found some of those rules frustrating, they respected us for trying to stick to them. They may have restricted and limited what we could film, but they never try to censor what we wanted to say.

So as I pass the burnt-out tank yet again, I wonder if it will still be here the next time I pass this way. I also wonder what other secrets lie hidden in this troubled but beautiful land, a land longing to shed its embattled image, as it tries to emerge from isolation at the ends of the Earth.

rabbit warren: a building with a lot of narrow passages, or a place with a lot of narrow streets, where you can easily get