As the last remaining US troops left Kabul this week, focus turned to what form the Taliban government of Afghanistan will take. While the group has insisted it wants to engage with other nations and allow citizens more freedoms than in its previous incarnation, last week’s deadly Islamic State suicide attack at Kabul airport highlighted some of the problems the insurgents-turned-incumbents face. Emma Graham-Harrison reports, while Jason Burke considers the moral dilemma facing the west in choosing its Afghan friends and enemies.
Over the past 16 years, Angela Merkel has led Europe’s leading power through challenging and tumultuous times. As Germany’s chancellor enters her final days in office, Philip Oltermann reflects on the substantial legacy Merkel leaves in several diplomatic spheres, and how a scientific mind has guided her political principles.
German Green politicians are often held up as an example of where their less-successful British counterparts should be heading. Now, as the Scottish Greens stand on the brink of a power-sharing agreement with the SNP in Holyrood, Andy Beckett asks on our opinion pages: has the political movement’s time finally come in the UK?
The rights of transgender people have advanced greatly in recent years, but it’s a subject that still divides many. Our feature by Shon Faye, detailing the problems that trans kids face to gain inclusion and acceptance, is a revealing and poignant window into a world that is still misunderstood by many.
Also in our features pages, we catch up with Sally Rooney, the superstar Irish author who would do anything to avoid the trappings of fame. There’s an entertaining look behind the scenes of the fast, furry world of cat shows. And, to finish off, Richard Williams writes a tribute to the late Charlie Watts, the Rolling Stones drummer with a jazz sensibility at heart.
