We are desensitized thanks to sound bites and casualty statistics that have become mundane. We are jaded thanks to pundits with their own agendas. We are operating in an everyday reality that makes it impossible for us to understand what happened to the people in this story...until we read this book.

As the book jacket says, this is not the story you may have seen on CNN. This is the real story, inside the head and hearts of those involved.

Kabul 24 tells the story of aid workers in Kabul, Afghanistan who are arrested and imprisoned by the Taliban in early 2001 just prior to 9/11. They were part of the SNI, or Shelter Now International, humanitarian effort - a Christian group.

Made up of teachers, engineers, nurses, students and artists from several countries including the USA, were in the country to help families rebuild their lives after years of war. The SNI group was not there to convert Muslims to Christians, yet they were seen as a great threat by the Taliban, and so, the story unfolds.

Many might ask, what were they doing there in such a dangerous country in such uncertain times? Who would bring their families into such a dangerous situation? What did they expect to happen?

It was clear from reading the account that they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into...and they went anyway. But the story is not about why they were there, or even why they were arrested and imprisoned. It is about how they survived the ordeal. It is about how they supported each other.

It is about the Afghans who helped them by doing little things like shuttling messages between them, and getting letters to their families outside the country - little things that, had they been caught in the transaction, would most likely have gotten themselves jailed or even executed.

Most of all it is about the incredible faith of these people who seemed to take each new torment in stride, simply believing that God would see them through. It is about how they bore each other up and were able to sustain hope for 105 days.

Kabul 24 will enlighten any reader about what it is really like to live in a country terrorized from within, where danger and evil literally lurks around any corner. Readers will also discover, however, that there are so many good people in these countries. We don't always hear about them, but they are there just trying to live and ensure safe futures for their children - much like the rest of us.