(Another) all-out war: Afghanistan and Pakistan
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air strikes and border raids have turned cross-border tensions into hot conflict. We ask what raised the temperature, and whether the Iran war may act to lower it. Meanwhile that war’s oil shock brings with it fears of rising inflation; we examine how recent disruptions might inform policy decisions. And “listening parties”, once for music-industry insiders, are becoming the norm.
Guests and host:
- Tom Sasse, south Asia bureau chief
- Joshua Roberts, capital markets correspondent
- Caitlin Talbot, digital culture correspondent
- Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Topics covered:
- Afghanistan, Taliban, Pakistan, TTP
- Iran war, oil shock, inflation
- music, albums, listening parties
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist. |
| 0:10.3 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:13.4 | I'm your host, Jason Palmer. |
| 0:15.3 | Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:23.6 | Thank you. a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. The oil pinch brought on by the war in Iran |
| 0:27.6 | has plenty of people worried about knock-on effects to inflation. |
| 0:31.6 | We discuss the ways that this oil shock is and is not like the past few. |
| 0:36.6 | And increasingly, there's a way for hardcore oil shock is and is not like the past few. |
| 0:45.3 | And increasingly, there's a way for hardcore fans of a musical artist to get their ears on an album before it comes out. What was once a treat for industry insiders is becoming just part of an album release plan. |
| 0:51.3 | Ain't no party like a listening party. But first... |
| 0:57.0 | It's getting harder to keep track of all the military confrontations that deserve our attention. |
| 1:15.6 | But we should talk about the one going on between two of Iran's neighbors, Afghanistan and Pakistan. |
| 1:23.6 | By far, the deadliest attack since that conflict ramped up last month came on March 16th, |
| 1:29.3 | with a Pakistani air strike on Omeid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. |
| 1:39.3 | Mourners buried the dead in a mass funeral. |
| 1:41.3 | Afghanistan responded with border raids and drone strikes. |
| 1:46.3 | Over the weekend for the Muslim holiday of Eid that marks the end of Ramadan, both sides agreed |
| 1:51.7 | to lay down their weapons. But that truth has now expired, and it seems only a matter of time |
| 1:57.6 | before the violence resumes. So the crux of this war is really that Pakistan |
| 2:03.2 | accuses Afghanistan of sheltering a group called the Pakistani Taliban, known as the TTP, which it |
| 2:11.3 | says is behind a big rise in terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Tom Sass is our South Asia Bureau Chief. |
| 2:20.2 | Now the Taliban, who are the government and a ruling in Afghanistan, they of course deny |
... |
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