The Real Story

Two years ago the Taliban swept into Kabul and took control of Afghanistan, almost exactly twenty years after they were ousted by the US-led invasion after 9/11. The West has since deployed sanctions to put pressure on the regime - but to no visible effect, beyond worsening the number of people struggling to afford to eat.

As the Taliban have consolidated their control of the country, they have dramatically reversed many of the rights and opportunities Afghan women have enjoyed. Can the world engage with the Taliban while also keeping up the pressure on it to reverse what the UN calls its “gender apartheid”?

Is isolation the way to convince a group which craves global recognition that its attitude to women is costing Afghanistan dearly?

Shaun Ley is joined by: Michael Keating, Executive Director at the European Institute of Peace, a conflict resolution organisation based in Brussels that works with the European Union and civil society. He is the former UN deputy envoy and humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan. Orzala Nemat, Afghan scholar and Research Associate at SOAS University, and the former director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), a think tank in Afghanistan Sahar Fetrat, researcher in the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch.

Also featuring:

BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid Produced by Alba Morgade and Neggeen Sadid.

(Photo: Taliban celebrate second anniversary of taking over Afghanistan, Kandahar, Afghanistan- 15 August 2023. Credit: EPA).

Artificial intelligence is increasingly impacting all of our lives. Proponents say the technology has the potential to cure diseases, reduce hunger and free up leisure time by improving productivity. But others worry it will destroy our privacy, undermine our democracies and increase inequality. So, how can we ensure AI delivers the maximum benefits while protecting our individual rights? The European Union is leading the way in attempts to regulate the emerging technology and hopes its AI Act will serve as a blueprint for others. What is the future of AI and how can we make sure it works for us, not against us?

Shaun Ley is joined by Scott Niekum, associate professor and director of SCALAR, the Safe, Confident, and Aligned Learning & Robotics Lab in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Karen Hao, a journalist and data scientist who writes about Artificial Intelligence for the US magazine, The Atlantic; Prof Philip Torr, a specialist on AI at the University of Oxford and a fellow of both the UK's national academy of sciences, The Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Also in the programme: Dragoș Tudorache, a member of the European Parliament involved in crafting the EU's AI Act.

(Photo: People attend the launch event of the first commercial application of artificial intelligence for the mining industry in Jinan, Shandong province, China, 18 July 2023. Credit: Mark R Cristino / EPA-EFE/ REX/Shutterstock)

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid which is up to 50 times more powerful than heroin, is now the main driver of drug overdose deaths in America. The US Drug Enforcement Administration says 67% of the 107,375 US deaths from drug overdoses or poisonings in 2021 were linked to fentanyl or similar opioids. US authorities blame Mexican drug gangs for supplying fentanyl to users across the US. Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says his country has proof that illegal shipments of the powerful opioid drug fentanyl are arriving from China; while China's foreign ministry has denied that there is illegal trafficking of fentanyl between China and Mexico. The US government is deploying law enforcement to crack down on fentanyl dealers and also taking steps to prevent and treat substance use and the harms it produces. But why is it still struggling to contain the fentanyl epidemic? Would stronger US cooperation with Chinese and Mexican authorities make a difference? What should President Joe Biden's administration do going forward to tackle the fentanyl crisis?

Shaun Ley is joined by:

Regina LaBelle, who served as acting director in the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in the White House when Joe Biden became president in 2021. She now directs the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at the O'Neill Institute at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC.

Vanda Felbab-Brown, Director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington.

Uttam Dhillon served during Donald Trump’s presidency as acting head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA, from 2018 to 2020. He now works for law firm Michael Best and Friedrich and its consultancy, which provides advice on drug policy to clients including healthcare companies. Uttam is on the board or advises several companies involved in tackling the opioid crisis.

Also featuring: Dr Rahul Gupta, President Joe Biden's 'Drug Czar' as Director for the US Office of National Drug Control Policy

Gustavo Mohar, head of Mexico ́s national security intelligence agency from 2007 to 2011

Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne

FILE PHOTO: Plastic bags of Fentanyl are displayed on a table at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection area at the International Mail Facility at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. November 29, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Lott/File Photo

Produced by Ellen Otzen and Imogen Wallace

The top brass of the Democrat party in the US have all rallied behind Joe Biden with their eyes on the 2024 presidential election. But they have a problem. Repeated polls suggest support for the incumbent president is stagnant at best. Dangerously low at worst. A repeated concern among doubting voters is his age and health. If Biden wins a second term next year, and completes four years in power, he will be 86 when he steps down. Much of the electorate simply don’t think he has it in him. Republican front runner Donald Trump has long dubbed the president as Sleepy Joe. It’s a taunt that increasingly rattles the nerves of the Democratic Party faithful. As the president’s voice noticeably weakens and his gait stiffens there is a fear he just sounds and looks too old for the job. But is his physical and mental capacity being distorted by his adversaries to undermine his achievements? His team point to major policies he’s passed including his infrastructure bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, and his chips and science act. He’s also recently returned from the G20 summit in India and before that he travelled by planes, trains and car into war-torn Ukraine. And Joe Biden is not alone in the very upper echelons of American politics. Donald Trump is 77 years old, the oldest senator is 90 years old and the Republican senate minority leader is 81 years old and ailing. Does America have a problem with the gerontocracy not making way for new blood and what does it mean for the coming 2024 election?

Shaun Ley is joined by: Christy Setzer - a Democrat strategist who was spokesperson for vice president Al Gore's presidential campaign. Scott Jennings - a Republican strategist who was special assistant to President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2008 James Politi - Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times

Also in the programme: Jay Olshansky - Professor of Public Health at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Amanda Litman - co-founder and co-executive director of the organisation 'Run For Something', which recruits and supports young progressives trying to win office.

Produced by Ellen Otzen and Zak Brophy

Image: US President Joe Biden addresses the United Nations General Assembly Leader's Reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on September 19, 2023.Credit: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

French cities have been engulfed by almost a week of intense riots, following the death of a teenager. Nahel M was shot at point blank range by police after he refused to stop for a traffic check in his hometown of Nanterre, a north-west Parisian suburb. The unrest led to more than 3,000 arrests and the deployment of tens of thousands of police around France. The riots have exposed deep divisions in French society. On The Real Story this week: why has France again been rocked by violent unrest? What makes so many of those who live in the suburbs of France’s major cities feel neglected by the state and politicians? And what are the government and opposition parties proposing as solutions?

Shaun Ley is joined by:

Rim-Sarah Alouane, a French legal scholar and commentator at the University Toulouse-Capitole in France

Professor Philippe Marlière, Professor of French and European Politics at University College London

Laetitia Strauch-Bonart, French writer and Editor at the French news magazine L'Express

Also featuring:

Natalia Pouzyreff, an MP from President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party

Inès Seddiki, founder of GHETT’UP, an organisation which works with young people in France’s suburbs

(Photo: The French interior minister has asked regions to ban the sale of fireworks, petrol cans and flammable products. Credit: Getty Images)