We begin our alphabetical journey around the world with one of the oldest, most storied, and most misunderstood countries on the planet — Afghanistan.

Long before the headlines, there was a civilisation. A land where lapis lazuli was mined and traded to the pharaohs of Egypt. Where Alexander the Great fought the hardest campaign of his military career and fell so deeply under the country's spell that he married a Bactrian princess. Where Buddhism and Greek philosophy fused into something entirely new. Where the city of Herat was, in the 15th century, the Florence of Central Asia — a gathering place of poets, painters, and astronomers that rivalled any court in the world.

In this episode, Ray takes you through the dramatic geography of the Hindu Kush — some of the most formidable mountains on Earth — and down into the desert south, the fertile northern plains, and the remote Wakhan Corridor where Afghanistan touches China at its very tip. We trace 5,000 years of history, from ancient Bactria to the Silk Road empires, from the Islamic golden age to the British invasions, from the Soviet war to the present day.

We meet Rumi — born in Balkh in 1207, still one of the best-selling poets in the world. Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir, who resisted every invader until the day he was assassinated. Khaled Hosseini, whose novel The Kite Runner made the world see Afghanistan as a place of fully human lives. Ahmad Zahir — the Afghan Elvis — whose voice still fills every Afghan wedding, in every city where Afghans have settled.

We cook Kabuli Pulao — the slow-braised rice dish with caramelised carrots, raisins, and lamb that is, quite possibly, one of the finest rice dishes in the world. We watch horsemen play Buzkashi. We stand in the empty niches at Bamiyan where the great Buddhas once stood. We swim in the impossible turquoise lakes of Band-e-Amir.

And we try — genuinely try — to see Afghanistan as it is: ancient, cultured, generous, and still here.

New episodes every Monday at 7pm. Next week — Albania.