Najibullah is going blind because of shrapnel in his eye from a Taliban rocket. The explosion killed his little brother, Hamidullah, on August 20, as the two of them cycled to a polling station in Helmand province, in southern Afghanistan.

It was 7.24am. They would have been the first people to vote.

French medics at the Nato hospital in Kabul operated today to try and remove the shrapnel, but without specialist eye equipment they were unable to reach the 3mm piece of metal deep inside his damaged eye.

Without more surgery he will probably go blind as the metal destroys his retina. A number of humanitarian organisations are trying to help get Najibullah abroad for treatment.