In 1995, aged 25, Sippi Azarbaijani Moghaddam travelled to Afghanistan to start her first NGO volunteer post. By the time she was 27, and still there, the Taliban had taken most of the country. She lived in Afghanistan, on and off, for the next 20 years – living through changes under the Mujahideen, Taliban, the 2001 US-led invasion and thereafter.

Throughout this time, she began to notice certain dissonances between the way the western media portrayed the Taliban and her own experiences. In a long-form piece documenting her memories from Afghanistan and her current research, she argues that the Taliban’s violent actions are widely misunderstood in the west – and that if we dismiss them as savages, the opportunity to learn how to face them is missed. If you want to learn more about the likely future trajectory of the Taliban, have a read of our latest discussion piece between two experts on what’s next for Afghanistan.

Have you made any decisions lately that you regret or doubt? COVID has made this an increasingly common experience. New research unpicks how decision-making changes in times of uncertainty – and how it may impact our brains. Plus, some countries have begun vaccinating children under 12. Will the UK?

With the government due to publish its full plans for social care reform this week, The Conversation is running a webinar on December 2, 5:30PM GMT. Academics and experts will discuss both the challenges the care sector faces in the wake of the pandemic and what social care might look like in the future. The webinar will be free to watch directly via these links on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/148546898646992/posts/1994619674039696/>, YouTube and on Twitter. No registration is needed, but you can sign up to receive an email about the event and how to watch here.

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