Two men based in Devon have just returned from Afghanistan with some remarkable pictures of life in the country.

Security consultant John Casson has been travelling to the area for some time, but on this occasion he took Jeremy Rata, a photographer who is helping to produce a book on the Afghan people.

Going on sale soon, the profits from the book will aid Sandy Gall’s Afghanistan Appeal, the Royal Marines Association, the Royal British Legion, Help for Heroes and the Gurkha Welfare Trust. The men spoke to me about their two weeks in a country ravaged by unrest.

“I am producing a book called Afghan Faces,” said John, a former Devon and Cornwall policeman.

“This trip has been tough, things have changed greatly in the two years since I was last there. There seems to be a big deterioration in society.

“You used to be able to move around easily, but not anymore.

“The international news agencies are increasing their presence in the capital, the major hotels have rooms permanently booked for foreign journalists, all seem to be setting up to cover the expected troop withdrawal next year.”

John’s home is in the South Hams and he says the contrast between the peace of Devon and the turmoil of Afghanistan could not be more marked.

“I know I have been lucky and we all take our surroundings for granted,” he said.

“Until you set foot in Kabul you have no idea what the struggle for existence is like.

There was a suicide attack when we were there which I doubt was reported back here as it is so common.

“In a single trip Jeremy has managed to capture the essence of the place in his photographs. The victims of abandoned mines and shells are everywhere.

“They don’t keep records of birth in Afghanistan, so it is difficult to tell the age of some people. One young man pictured was more or less cut in half by an explosion and we believe him to be about 18.

“It is not unusual to find limbless children and I have seen victims who are just four and five years old – the rockets and mines left behind do not discriminate.

“There are not so many new ones, these are old pieces of ordinance and I know the agencies tasked to clear them say they have at least 10 years of work.”

When not recording the horrors of Afghanistan, Jeremy is managing director of Bovey Castle Hotel on Dartmoor, but his over-riding passion has always been photography and this trip has tested both the man and his ability.

“This was my first trip to the country and I must admit that I was not sure what to expect,” he said.

“Now I know this is going to sound a bit glib, but when the situation has been dealt with out there and peace returns I really do fear for the country and its people when the West gets into the infrastructure.

“Outside of the towns and cities it is stunning, beautiful countryside and a way of life from a hundred years ago.

“If and when the tourist turns up, it will be gone.

“I spoke to a lot people out there and I found them fascinating, but the situation they are in is mad.

“For instance, I asked our driver what would happen to him if the Taliban got back in.

“He said quite simply that he would be dead. In one small way he had helped us, the Westerners, by driving, and that would condemn him.

“What sort of life is that? He comes from a highly respectable Muslim family, but he would have to take his wife and small boy and flee.

“He doesn’t have a passport and certainly wouldn’t get a visa, so he would have to cross one of the borders and live as a refugee. That is the situation for so many people.”

Jeremy explained that, although he works as a hotelier, photography has been his great love ever since an uncle inspired him to pick up a camera.

“In the last five years I have worked a lot with premiership football and rugby and John saw those pictures and asked me to try something totally different,” he said.

So would either of them return to Afghanistan? They are both reticent to answer.

“There have been some questions over this trip about our safety,” said John.

“There was a situation on the way to the airport when we were with some eminent

British people. The drivers went the wrong way and they didn’t seem to want to take directions and that’s when we thought we were being set up for either a roadside assassination or kidnap.”

Afghan Faces is expected to be on sale by November.