Days earlier, the Nato commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, also signalled his belief that four years of hard combat with the Taliban would ultimately be ended by a political deal.
"As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there's been enough fighting," he told the Financial Times. The sentiment was echoed last night by the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.
Into the dark night with photographer Patrick Zachmann...
"....Marks caused by a sharp object were found on his body, described by Home Office pathologist Dr Nigel Cooper as "a grotesque game of noughts and crosses. Boiling water was poured over his feet in the bath, he was held against a hot radiator and scorched with a cigarette lighter."
