https://www.scmp.com/rss/513861/feed Nathan Paul Southern is a non-traditional security specialist, consultant and investigative reporter who covers global security, organised crime, trafficking networks and terrorism. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The walls of the commander’s home are festooned with rifles and flak jackets when we visit last October; souvenirs of a war that ended a little over a year earlier. Just above our heads, where we are seated cross-legged on a semicircle of floor cushions on a plush Afghan carpet and drinking tea, hangs a rocket-propelled grenade. The small room is packed with people, too: the commander has summoned the heads of 14 villages under his command, each of whom represents around 100 to 200 households in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3214708/life-afghans-got-worse-after-taliban-seized-power-now-foreign-aid-drying?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3214708/life-afghans-got-worse-after-taliban-seized-power-now-foreign-aid-drying?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Mar 2023 10:15:17 +0000 The first time Seng saw someone jump to their death was from the window of his dorm, in a gated compound where armed guards patrolled outside, making sure no one escaped. But Seng had never spoken to the man he saw die that day; workers weren’t allowed to speak to people from other teams or buildings. They weren’t even allowed to leave their dorms. “If you can work, find customers and you follow all the rules, it’s fine,” says Seng (not his real name), “but if you break any rules, you are locked... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3195932/laos-criminal-casino-empire-chinese-gangsters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3195932/laos-criminal-casino-empire-chinese-gangsters?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Oct 2022 00:15:07 +0000