It was something that no one listening to BBC Radio 4's Today programme expected: the moment that John Simpson's voice started to break with emotion. "Looking around at those kids," he told his colleague Amol Rajan, "it was quite difficult - I'm sorry - I've seen a lot of bad things in my time, but this was... it hasn't yet happened, yet you know it's just round the corner, and they know it... "

Simpson was reporting from BamiyanThe area was famous for three colossal statues of Buddha, more than 1,500 years old, which were destroyed by the Taliban. in central Afghanistan, telling the story of a family he had met there. Fatima, a widow, was living in a cave with her seven children aged between 3 and 16.

The family used to receive food supplies from international aid agencies. Fatema also earned some money by weeding a local farmer's land. But since the Taliban took control of the country, much of the foreign aid has come to a halt. And a drought in the country means that the farmer can no longer offer work.

"I'm frightened," Fatema told Simpson. "I've got nothing to give the children. Soon I'll have to go out and beg."

Simpson has worked for the BBC for over 50 years. He was on the scene in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989; he was injured by a bomb during the 2003 Iraq war.

He was hunted by government forces while reporting from ZimbabweFormerly known as Rhodesia, it took its current name in 1980.. He was also one of the first journalists into Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in 2001.

His awards include the CBECommander of the British Empire., and an International EmmyThe Emmy Awards are the equivalent of the Oscars for TV programmes.. To many people he is the voice of the BBC - a man who can be relied upon to assess the grimmest wars and humanitarian disasters with stern impartiality. So to hear him so obviously upset was extraordinary.

The worst, he stressed, had not happened yet. Instead, it was like being in a car you knew was about to crash. "The urgency," he said, "is to do something now, not to wait until the skeletons are in the streets."

Many of Afghanistan's more prosperous people have fled the country, so they are not on hand to help. The coming winter is expected to be exceptionally harsh. "I don't know how I'll get through it if I can't make bread," one old man told Simpson.

The Taliban are so worried that they are prepared to co-operate with Western aid agencies they normally want nothing to do with. The World Food ProgrammeRun by the United Nations, the organisation was awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. is providing large quantities of flour, but far more will be needed. According to its executive director David Beasley: "95% of the people don't have enough food, and now we're looking at 23 million people marching towards starvation."

Beasley asked the world's rich to imagine their own children in such a situation. With $400trn worth of wealth in the world, "Shame on us [if] we let any child die from hunger... I don't care where that child is."

"The snow is beginning to settle on the nearby mountain-tops," Simpson wrote on the BBC website. "Winter will very soon be here, and huge numbers of people like Fatema and her family will be on the very brink of catastrophe."

Some say, yes - particularly in a situation like this, where the whole world bears some responsibility for the plight of the Afghan people. Reporters are human beings like the rest of us: there is no reason why they should not show emotion or intervene to help people if they can.  

Others argue that reporters are professionals who should not become emotionally involved, any more than judges or heart surgeons. Reporting things in a trustworthy manner requires strict detachment: the best thing Simpson can do to help the Afghans is to keep his feelings in check.