The Intelligence from The Economist Leave in peace: Afghan-Taliban negotiations
Jun 24, 2020
Ben Farmer, a journalist specializing in Afghanistan for The Economist, teams up with Wendelin von Bredow, the European business and finance correspondent based in Berlin. They dive into the complexities of the Afghan-Taliban peace negotiations, highlighting the challenges of a U.S. withdrawal agreement and ongoing violence. The discussion also covers Wirecard's dramatic fall from grace amid a massive fraud scandal, and how national football victories can temporarily unify a nation, as seen in the Ivory Coast.
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Afghan Peace Talks
- The Afghan government and Taliban are set to begin peace talks, following a US-Taliban agreement.
- However, implementing the agreement has been challenging due to vague conditions regarding prisoner swaps and violence reduction.
Challenges in US-Taliban Deal
- The US-Taliban peace deal faces challenges due to vague conditions, particularly regarding the prisoner exchange and reduction in violence.
- The Afghan government's reluctance to release all prisoners and the Taliban's reliance on violence as leverage complicate the negotiations.
Wirecard Scandal
- Wirecard, once a celebrated German fintech company, faced a major scandal involving missing funds.
- The company's CEO, Marcus Braun, was arrested, and shares plummeted, shocking many but not all.