On the frontline in Afghanistan, as one city after another falls to the Taliban

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Stories from Afghanistan, Greece, Cuba and Norway. The speed at which the Taliban have overrun towns and cities in Afghanistan has shocked even the most pessimistic observers, with US officials warning that the government in Kabul may not hold out for long. Just before the Taliban attacked the provincial capital of Kandahar, Shelly Kittleson flew down to see troops and civilians prepare for the coming onslaught. The fires ravaging Greece have been described by some as among the worst natural disasters visited upon the country. The Greek prime minister described them as an ‘ecological catastrophe’. But not all Greeks agree, arguing that the government failed adequately to prepare for them. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of land have been destroyed and more than 60,000 people have had to flee their homes. Our reporter, Bethany Bell has been to one Greek island which was particularly damaged. They have not really seen much in the way of anti-government demonstrations in Cuba – not on the scale of those which took place recently, and not in so many cities and towns across the island. Yet conditions in Cuba are far from normal, with severe economic troubles aggravated by the Coronavirus outbreak. Our resident correspondent in Havana, Will Grant, has just returned to his post, and found things had changed in the brief time he had been away. Norwegians are often proud of the stories from World War Two, when the country came under German occupation. There are tales of legendary figures carrying out heroic acts of resistance. Yet less is spoken about the fact that Norway had a homegrown Nazi leader during the occupation, Vidkun Quisling. Indeed, the writer and novelist, Ben Macpherson was surprised to find he could rent Quisling’s holiday home in the fjords, and suspects this might say something about Norway, and its attitude to the past.