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Inside the Taliban Psyche

Good Taliban, Bad Taliban?; Farewell Chinua Achebe; Loo paper politics; Kyrgyz underworld, and Eritrea at 20.

Good Taliban, Bad Taliban
Just two weeks after the bloodiest elections that Pakistan has ever seen at the hands of the Taliban, the winner of those very same elections has called the Taliban to the table for talks. There has been an ongoing media debate about who are the good Taliban and who are the bad Taliban. Who would we like to bring to the negotiating table and who are the bad ones spilling blood? How do you differentiate between the two? We hear from Mohammed Hanif in Karachi and Saqlain Imam from 91热爆 Urdu talks us through how we have come to this point so fast.

Farewell Achebe
As Chinua Achebe is buried this week, 91热爆 Africa's Bilkisu Labaran and Veronique Edwards remember the great Nigerian writer.

Loo Paper Politics
In an attempt to avert an economic crisis, the Venezuelan government imported 50 million toilet rolls last week. Apparently the lack of toilet paper was one of the final indignities that put the nail in the coffin of the Soviet bloc almost 25 years ago. A Fifth Floor Venezeulan, Vietnamese and Azeri wonder what it is about toilet rolls and communism.

Kyrgyz Underworld
One of the stories that has recently been dominating the Kyrgyz section is the row over the release from prison of a criminal boss Aziz Batukayev. Questions have been raised over why he was set free. Batukayev was running most of Kyrgyzstan's prisons. The tradition dates back to Soviet times but is still very much alive. Hamid Ismailov, Olexiy Solohubenko and Alexander Kan explain.

Eritrea at 20
It's officially 20 years since Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia. We bring together the only Eritrean working at the 91热爆, Efrem Gebreab with Hewete Haileselassie an Ethiopian who works for 91热爆 Africa to talk about identity issues and growing up in the diaspora.

Image: A former Taliban fighter looks on after joining Afghan government forces during a ceremony in Herat province on March 26, 2012.
Credit: AFP/Getty Images

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50 minutes

Last on

Sat 25 May 2013 02:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 24 May 2013 11:06GMT
  • Fri 24 May 2013 21:06GMT
  • Sat 25 May 2013 02:06GMT