We begin season 2 with Afghanistan. We are joined by Paiman (@paiman007) as we go through one of the most talked about countries of the last few months. We learn about the rich history which is often ignored due to the narrative about Afghanistan. We talk about the geo-politics and what Afghans feel about the regime change and the Taliban. And many other interesting things too.    I was really fortunate to have found a very articulate and well read guest who explained the nuances of a very complex topic. Thank you Bhaijan :D.    00:00 Paiman's experience in Russia.   00:09:46 Paiman's origins in Afghanistan  00:19:31 History of Afghanistan  00:35:34 Buddhist period   00:38:14  We start talking about Zoroastrianism   00:43:01 Sultan Ghazni   00:46:01 The Sunni Shia question  00:52:42 The different ethnicities in Afghanistan   00:56:21 The languages of Afghanistan   00:59:20 Paiman speaks Hindi   01:10:45 The connections with India   01:31:40 The relationship with Pakistan   01:49:20 The communist Afghan period   01:52:02 The origins of the Taliban   02:00:04 The question of girls education   02:03:14 The role of the opium trade   02:09:55 Did Afghans expect the Taliban to come back to power so quick ?  02:16:39 Is Paiman afraid of going back to Afghanistan ?   02:21:00 The hope for the future.      RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTARY  MATERIAL   1. This is what winning looks like ( 2013, Ben Anderson, Vice)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja5Q75hf6QI2.  2.Making sense podcast #258 - The fall of Afghanistan ( 2021, Sam Harris, Guest - Peter Bergen - https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/258-fall-afghanistan)   3. Indo- Greek kingdoms  ( Kings and Generals, 2019) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxJk4KHZxi8

The season finale finally takes us to Central Asia with Turkmenistan. 

We head over to our first European country as Mario joins us to talk about Italy. We go way back into the past and bring it all the way to the monumental occasion that is tomorrow - The EURO finals between Italy and England. 

We are joined in this experimental episode by Swathi from India and Saiful from Sri Lanka who both speak the same language called Tamil. We try to understand the nuances of Tamil people in both Sri Lanka and in India and also try to speak a little in Tamil.  

It is time for some Russification as we are joined by Vlada from North Ossetia.

We head off to our first Arab country as we have Shaima as our guest. She takes us through the fascinating and unexpected parts of Algerian culture and history. 

Deborah joins us as we go to what I think is the most unique nation in the African continent - Ethiopia. 

Back in South - East Asia again with a really interesting country - Vietnam. We are joined by Chang as she talks all things Vietnam. 

Our first Francophone country joins us as Hady comes in to talk about the Western most country on the African coast - Senegal. 

We hop to the only English speaking South American nation as we are joined by Rheanna.