Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. I'm your host, Jason Palmer. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Among the stark economic effects of lockdowns was the boom in the attention economy.

Given few options, the world flocked to entertainment media, from games to streaming services to, well, podcasts.

But now that boom is turning to bust.

And of the world's very best racehorses,

97% are all descended from a single horse.

We look at the risks inherent in maintaining thoroughbreds

that are thoroughly inbred.

But first... Over the weekend, the last American troops departed from the Bagram Army base, the nerve center of American operations in Afghanistan.

We're on track exactly as to where we expect it to be.

It's the notional end of America's longest war,

20 years after an American invasion and an insurgency by Taliban militants

that just never stopped.

As America and Allied NATO forces head for the exit,

a resurgent Taliban continues to make gains,

particularly across the country's north.

As government forces fled this weekend,

videos emerged of Taliban soldiers standing over piles of captured weapons.

A Taliban spokesperson told the BBC that all American troops must leave by America's September 11th deadline.

They agreed while we were negotiating the Doha, that they will withdraw all their forces.

It's chillingly reminiscent of another foreign power withdrawal, that of the Soviets in the late

1980s. The fear now, the increasing reality now, is a return to widespread Taliban control

...