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The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has serious implications for global security. Western governments are concerned about the prospect of more attacks on their own turf. But there\u2019s also particular worry that jihadist movements in Africa and Asia could gain ground. Might the news from Kabul attract new recruits to their ranks \u2013 especially in those places where international forces have been deeply involved in fighting them back? The various armed groups allied with Al Qaida and the Islamic State across the Sahel and east Africa have been wreaking havoc for more than a decade now. Andrew Harding has reported on many of those wars, and recent events have brought back vivid memories\u2026 and hard questions\u2026

In Afghanistan itself, some among the Taliban now in charge of the country again have grievances of their own, after losing relatives and comrades killed in airstrikes and night raids over the past twenty years. So how will they rule, and treat their old enemies? Kate Clark was the BBC correspondent in Kabul in the final years of the last Taliban regime, where she witnessed the fall of the city in 2001 \u2013 and she has done so again in 2021. She\u2019s seen rulers come and go \u2013 and how after each change of regime, cycles of revenge have been fed, prolonging the conflict. After a week of chaos, she considers a longer view of four decades of war.

Reporting from Israel often inevitably revolves around the politics of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even the basic, day-to-day issues \u2013 town planning, health care, education \u2013 are complicated by this central problem. So imagine the challenge of policing in such a divided setting. For some time, Palestinian citizens of Israel have reported rising violence within their communities \u2013 not politically motivated, but driven by organised crime. The mobsters\u2019 trade in drugs and weapons, and their vendettas, have blighted many areas \u2013 and left many families bereaved. Yolande Knell has spoken to several families trying to cope with the aftermath.

In Spain, paying the rent is often a political issue \u2013 and there\u2019s a long history of squatting. After the property crash of 2008, many families fought to stay on in homes that did not belong to them, because they couldn\u2019t afford their mortgages any more. In cities like Barcelona, while prices slumped, speculators moved in and bought up buildings at knock-down prices. Thousands of flats are still standing empty. Some have been illegally occupied by people who just can\u2019t afford a market rent and needed a roof over their heads. But not all squatters actually live in the homes they take over. Criminals have spotted an opportunity: why not just move into a property and demand a \u2018ransom\u2019 of thousands of Euros from the owner before they will leave? Linda Pressly recently met a man who claimed to be a professional extortionist in Barcelona\u2026

And Patrick Muirhead takes a gruelling hike in the Seychelles, on the trail of its fabled Jellyfish Tree. It\u2019s not just rare, but a botanical mystery: no-one yet understands how it manages to reproduce. In the teeth of climate change and rapid development for the islands' tourism industry, there are fears the species may not last much longer. If a proposed dam is built to supply water for the growing population of Mah\xe9 island, it could engulf one of the last remaining outcrops of the plant.

Producer: Polly Hope