The Economist's Nicolas Pelham talks to John Defterios about Afghanistan. He says the US and its allies are in a bind when it comes to helping Afghan people. The Taliban is still repressive, at times barbaric, he adds. But some believe that empowering pragmatic voices could sideline hardliners.
Their return to rule is unequivocally bad for the country’s women and girls. But wholesale collapse has not come and some aspects of government have improved; it turns out threats of grotesque violence change behaviours. We investigate the curious case of Morocco’s absent king—and his unlikely mixed-martial-artist pals. And how the mobile phone has shaped cinema for half a century.
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