Keep your friends close: Pakistan’s shifting role

<p>As the Taliban’s closest ally, the country bears a big responsibility for Afghanistan’s fate. We examine its diplomatic <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2021/10/07/pakistan-got-its-way-in-afghanistan-now-what?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">risks and opportunities</a>. Mastercard is pressing porn purveyors this week; we look at how financial companies are reluctantly <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/credit-card-firms-are-becoming-reluctant-regulators-of-the-web/21805450?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">stepping up</a> as the internet’s police. And a timely social-inequality take drives South Korea’s “<a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2021/10/09/south-koreans-are-bemused-by-the-global-success-of-squid-game?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Squid Game</a>” to the top of Netflix's charts worldwide.</p><p>For full access to print, digital and audio editions of <em>The Economist</em>, subscribe here <a href="http://www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer</a></p> &#10;&nbsp;<br /><hr><p style='color: grey; font - size: 0.75em; '>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>