Keep your friends close: Pakistan’s shifting role

As the Taliban’s closest ally, the country bears a big responsibility for Afghanistan’s fate. We examine its diplomatic risks and opportunities. Mastercard is pressing porn purveyors this week; we look at how financial companies are reluctantly stepping up as the internet’s police. And a timely social-inequality take drives South Korea’s “Squid Game” to the top of Netflix's charts worldwide.For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer