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Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, left Afghanistan at the age of 11 when his diplomat father was posted to Paris.

A few years later the Russians invaded his homeland and his family sought asylum in the US.

Khaled has lived in California for most of his life where he worked as a doctor.

While his first bestselling book evokes his early life, the Kabul he left behind has now become a very different place, war-damaged and struggling to function.

Khaled recently returned to Afghanistan as a goodwill envoy with the .

He talked to Outlook's Lucy Ash about that visit to his home country and his shock at what he found there after three decades of conflict.

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