After a year under the Taliban, Afghanistan is now in “survival mode”, the UN has warned. Its economy has crumbled and rights – especially for women and girls – have been sharply curtailed. The fall of Kabul, on 15 August 2021, came after the US announced its intention to withdraw troops by the following month. There were chaotic scenes at Kabul airport as thousands of desperate Afghans sought to flee. One of those who escaped was the veteran journalist and commentator Bilal Sarwary. He and his family have been granted asylum in Canada, from where he continues to report on Afghanistan.

Alix Kroeger speaks to Bilal Sarwary about his last days in Kabul, the failings of the Afghan government and the international community, and the missed opportunities for reconciliation with the Taliban.

Read more:

John Simpson writes how the Taliban have learned that they cannot shut out the West.

Afiq Fitri explains how living standards in Afghanistan have collapsed.

Shiraz Maher on the tensions exposed within the Taliban by the death of the al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul.

Lynne O’Donnell on the “lifetime of lockdown” facing Afghan girls who have been shut out of education.

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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Russia to withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, and warned of the disastrous consequences for Europe of any radiation incident at the plant. But why was Russia so keen to take the plant in the first place? Alix Kroeger in London joins Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC to discuss.

Plus, as another US congressional delegation visits Taiwan, Katie Stallard analyses how China’s military exercises could signal the beginning a new normal in the Taiwan Strait and why US-China relations are so bad.

Then, in You Ask Us, they answer a listener’s question on what documents former US president Donald Trump is accused of taking from the White House and why he might have done it.

Read more:

Are Russian forces in Ukraine exploiting Western fears of a nuclear disaster?

Is China preparing to invade Taiwan?

Republicans, this is why you wait for more information

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On Monday 8 August the FBI launched an unprecedented search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. Agents were reportedly searching for classified documents, including those related to nuclear weapons. The raid has prompted Republican officials to condemn the Department of Justice and fuelled speculation that Trump will pursue a presidential run in 2024.

Emily Tamkin speaks to Nick Bryant, the former BBC New York correspondent and author of When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present, which is released in paperback by Bloomsbury on 18 August.

They talk about the reaction to the raid from the US right, as well as what paved the way for Trump’s political rise, covering post-Cold War optimism and the scandal-wracked Nineties, and how the billionaire became a working-class hero. They also discuss whether Ronald Reagan was the “godfather of polarisation”, and if this division is here to stay after these recent dramatic events.

Further reading:

Emily Tamkin argues that the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort was the rule of law in action.

Emily Tamkin asks is everything coming up good for Joe Biden?

Emily Tamkin writes Republicans, this is why you wait for more information.

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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has called on Western governments to bar Russians from entering their countries. In an interview with the Washington Post he said that they ought to “live in their own world until they change their philosophy”. Finland, Estonia and Latvia have also backed restrictions on Russian travel. 

Emily Tamkin in Washington DC, Ido Vock in Berlin and the New Statesman’s environment correspondent, India Bourke, in London, discuss the rationale behind Zelensky’s request, the consequences such a ban might have for people in Russia and how Western countries have responded.

Meanwhile, the US Senate has finally passed the Inflation Reduction Act. It is the largest climate investment in the country’s history and the biggest victory against climate change since the 2015 Paris Agreement. The team discuss what the bill includes, the concessions made to get the legislation through the Senate and what it means for inspiring climate action around the world.

Then, in You Ask Us, a listener wants to know what on Earth a vote-a-rama is, and will we have more of them?

Further reading:

India Bourke explains why Biden’s bill is the biggest climate victory since the Paris Agreement.

Ido Vock writes Volodymyr Zelensky is wrong to ask the West to ban Russian tourists.

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The US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on 2-3 August, and China responded with large military exercises and missile launches. To analyse this, Katie Stallard speaks to Bonnie Glaser, the director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. They talk about the signals Beijing is trying to send with its live-fire drills, and what the risks are of a serious escalation in the Taiwan Strait. 

They discuss the background to the current crisis, the breakdown of US-China relations, and the range of coercive measures Beijing could bring to bear on Taiwan in the coming weeks and months. Plus, what the Chinese leader Xi Jinping has really said about potential timelines in trying to seize the island.

Further reading:

Is China preparing to invade Taiwan?

The crisis around Taiwan is only just beginning.

The pointlessness of Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip.

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Leonid Volkov, chief of staff for the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, speaks to Europe correspondent Ido Vock about how the war in Ukraine could end Vladimir Putin's regime.

They discuss Navalny’s treatment in Russian prison, the miscalculations that Putin made in starting the invasion, and why giving into Russian energy blackmail would make a Ukrainian victory more difficult.

Further reading:

How Vladimir Putin views the world 

The conflict in Ukraine is reaching a critical moment

Russia counterattacks in its economic war with the West

Russia is bluffing about its success in the war – but so is Ukraine

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Nancy Pelosi, the US House Speaker, arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday 2 August to meet President Tsai Ing-wen. Chinese officials had repeatedly warned against her visit to the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own territory.

Alix Kroeger in London, and Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC, discuss why Pelosi went ahead with the visit now and how Beijing is likely to respond in the coming days and weeks as the Chinese navy begins live-fire drills around Taiwan.

Then, the US state of Kansas has become a surprising place for a triumph of abortion rights. On 2 August its residents resoundingly voted to keep abortion protections in the state constitution. The team discuss what this early political victory for supporters of abortion rights tells us and whether, along with the recently brokered Inflation Reduction Act, there’s cause for cautious optimism among the Democrats.

Then in You Ask Us, a listener asks about the background to this weekend’s dispute in Kosovo.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email [email protected].

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Emily Tamkin on why a bid to strip away abortion rights in Kansas backfired.

Katie Stallard on Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.

Alix Kroeger says that the flurry of alarm over Kosovo reveals underlying tensions.

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In Bosnia and Herzegovina a dispute over a proposed new elections law has led to protests and concerns about the stability of the country. For more than 25 years since the Bosnian War ended in 1995 the country has been governed through a complex federal system intended to strike a balance between the three main ethnic groups: Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. Many Bosnian Croats, however, now want changes that would, they say, give them better representation.

Alix Kroeger speaks to Gerald Knaus, the chairman of the European Stability Initiative, a think tank focusing on south-eastern Europe and the enlargement of the European Union. He’s been researching the two big European peace agreements of the 1990s: the Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia and the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. They discussed the parallels between the two, the role of the international community in Bosnia and the lessons for the war in Ukraine.

Further reading:

Jeremy Cliffe on Bosnia and the weakness of the West. 

Alix on the echoes of Bosnia in Ukraine.

Ivan Krastev and Mark Leonard on the end of peace in Europe.

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The Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, has resigned after roughly a year and a half in charge of a caretaker government, meaning there will be early elections.

Emily Tamkin and Katie Stallard in Washington DC are joined by Jeremy Cliffe in Berlin to discuss why Draghi quit, the far-right coalition hoping to take power, and what a government led by Giorgia Maloni would mean for Italy and its future support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, China is warning of “serious consequences” if Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, visits Taiwan, as she is said to be planning. The team discuss what’s behind those threats, why the timing of the proposed visit is particularly important, and how it could exacerbate tensions between Washington and Beijing.

In You Ask Us, a listener asks why a long-term adviser to Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, has resigned.

If you have a You Ask Us question for the international team, email [email protected].

Podcast listeners can subscribe to the New Statesman for just £1 a week for 12 weeks using our special offer. Just visit newstatesman.com/podcastoffer.

Further reading:

Katie Stallard writes on the gathering storm over Pelosi's proposed visit to China.

Jeremy Cliffe on what a Giorgia Meloni government would mean for Italy.

Emily Tamkin on the threat of Viktor Orbán's anti-mixed race speech.

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As the war in Ukraine enters its sixth month, Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko speaks to Megan Gibson about what support Ukraine needs to win against Russia.

She explains how parliament keeps functioning in a war, the way the country is uniting behind President Volodymyr Zelensky and why the West needs to keep up the supply of weapons to help Ukraine beat back the Russian forces.

Further reading:

Russia is bluffing about its success in the war – but so is Ukraine

Why the Russian military should be very worried

Which countries could Putin try to ‘protect’ next?

Who’s arming Ukraine?

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