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.

Singapore is an ethnically diverse city state, mostly Chinese, but also Malay and Indian.

Long ago laws aimed at racial harmony have kept tension at bay, mostly, but recent events have put some persistent inequalities under the spotlight.

And for centuries, humans have been chewing gum. For decades, it was a hallmark of the rebellious, of the cool.

It seems that Gen Z doesn't see the appeal, though.

They've got different distractions and environmental priorities

and different ideas about rebellion.

But first... The American government has been attempting to draw attention to its evacuation of translators and others

who helped in its two decades of war in Afghanistan.

Since the first of this year, our consular staff in Kabul has issued over 5,000 special immigrant visas and interviewed thousands more.

What the administration would doubtless prefer to draw attention away from is this.

Over the weekend, Taliban insurgents made inroads in the cities of Harat, Lashkargaa, and Kandahar.

As American forces have withdrawn in the past couple of months, the Taliban has surged,

taking district after district, setting up parallel governments in much of the country's

rural expanse. What they seem determined to do next would put the country right back where it was

two decades ago. The Taliban are advancing on the streets of three big Afghan cities, provincial capitals.

Edward McBride is the economist's deputy foreign editor.

It's really a sign that the momentum in the Afghan Civil War is with the Taliban.

It's a fight far bigger than we've seen over the past couple of months.

It'll be tremendously worrying to the Afghan

security forces. Can they hold on and can they hold back this Taliban assault?

...