In the borders of Afghanistan, by the Khyber Pass, a young Russian soldier is handed over alive by his guerrilla captors to the International Committee of the Red Cross. In this notoriously bitter and ferocious conflict a small group of Swiss negotiators are achieving the apparently impossible. For the first time, the Red Cross has allowed cameras to follow these tense and delicate negotiations. David Jessel tells the story of idealism in practice, and the struggle - medical and political - to keep the victims of both sides of this bloody conflict alive.