Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Every year, as many as 20 million people get typhoid fever.

About 160,000 die, most of them children.

And the bacteria that cause it are increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

We take a look at a promising new vaccine.

And we hop on the world's shortest scheduled flight,

which could soon also be the world's greenest.

It takes longer to describe the journey than to make it.

But first...

For the past year, American officials and the Afghan militants of the Taliban

have been holding talks.

The goal has been to help Afghans achieve peace.

Afghans are yearning for peace.

There have been war in that country for 40 years.

The American envoy to the negotiations, Zalmei Khalilzad, spoke last month to the Georgetown Institute

for Women, Peace and Security about the goal of ending America's longest conflict.

We also have been there involved in a war for some 18 years.

We would like to end this war.

We associate ourselves with the aspirations of the Afghan people.

And this week in Qatar, there was news of a breakthrough. Mr. Khalilzad declared the two sides had made excellent progress towards a deal.

...