One "background" news item the Heir hears on audio is regarding the conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan.  Sure, it's obvious to the Heir that the media's trying to make the case as to why we should stay in there indefinitely, despite the popularity of ending military operations, but here's the way the Heir hears them portraying it.  They're making it look like it's The Good Guys Versus The Bad Guys.  Presumably, the good guys are Kabul, and the bad guys are the Taliban, and the conflict is nothing more than a spectator sport with guns.  The Heir hearkens back to a trust-funded BBC World Service that used to do thoughtful documentaries as to why such conflicts are far more nuanced and not as cut-and-dried.  So once the Heir gets back to DX'ing the shortwave bands, he wants to hear what he calls the VTLA, the Voice of Tradition for a Liberated Afghanistan, which would be a Taliban station directed at the US and Europe, as well as Southeast Asia, to make the case for a Taliban perspective.  Don't get the Heir wrong here.  We're talking about a brutal social group.  But he's also sure that the citizens in "Taliban territory" are not all that unwelcoming to the Taliban because they see Kabul as an oppressive corrupt influence.  The citizens the Heir surmises have to pay regular bribes to Kabul just to be able to get food and medicine, as well as regular electrical, water and sewer services.  We're talking about areas with very few economic opportunities.  Plus, the Heir's sure that the VTLA would have found out about the Heir's discontent with a personally corrupt society here in the US, and uses the examples the Heir has talked about in their regular broadcasts, to educate the Americans not only about how wrong they are about the Taliban, but how wrong they are about themselves.  And, ultimately, just plain wrong.

"These are the kinds of things to think about the next time you hear about the Taliban 'conflict' on audio."