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Aug 16, 2021

The new reality of Afghanistan’s economy

Also on today’s show: how house hunting can be like an endurance sport, a look at how farmers are dealing with California’s drought and how China’s tutoring industry is responding to Big Tech crackdowns.

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Taliban fighters stand guard along a street near the Zanbaq Square in Kabul on Aug. 16 after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan's 20-year war. Thousands of people mobbed the city's airport trying to flee the group's feared hardline brand of Islamist rule.

Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images

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Segments From This Episode

From taxes to the drug trade, how the Taliban paid its way
by Sabri Ben-Achour
Bay Ismoyo/AFP via Getty Images
The Taliban has taxed everything from government projects to international trade.
Military contractors and the profits of war
by Nancy Marshall-Genzer
Scott Olson via Getty Images
DynCorp International, KBR and Fluor Corp. often operated under no-bid military contracts, which granted them monopolies on huge deals.
Buying a house has become an endurance sport
by Amy Scott
Spencer Platt via Getty Images
“This is not a sprint, this is a marathon,” one real estate broker tells her clients. But for some homebuyers, the race is just too long.
Humanitarian groups scramble as Taliban takes power in Afghanistan
by Kimberly Adams
STR/AFP via Getty Images
The hardline government might need the groups to provide basic social services. But it’s also likely to fear their human rights advocacy.
Is China’s multibillion-dollar tutoring industry coming to an end?
by Jennifer Pak
"A Love for Dilemma"
Top Chinese education stocks dipped by 70% within hours last month. But what does it feel like on the ground in China?
Drought has California farms destroying crops, rather than pay for water
by Caroline Champlin
Caroline Champlin
The Woolf ranch in California’s Central Valley is scaling down its almond orchards to focus on less water-intensive crops, like tomatoes.