432. When Your Safety Becomes My Danger

The families of U.S. troops killed and wounded in Afghanistan are suing several companies that did reconstruction there. Why? These companies, they say, paid the Taliban protection money, which gave them the funding — and opportunity — to attack U.S. soldiers instead. A look at the messy, complicated, and heart-breaking tradeoffs of conflict-zone economies.

Episode 432 of the Freakonomics Radio podcast, hosted by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher, titled "432. When Your Safety Becomes My Danger" was published on September 24, 2020 and runs 47 minutes.

September 24, 2020 ·47m · Freakonomics Radio

Summary

The families of U.S. troops killed and wounded in Afghanistan are suing several companies that did reconstruction there. Why? These companies, they say, paid the Taliban protection money, which gave them the funding — and opportunity — to attack U.S. soldiers instead. A look at the messy, complicated, and heart-breaking tradeoffs of conflict-zone economies.

Episode Description