Editorial

China may have pinned some hopes on Afghanistan in recent years. The country on the Hindu Kush is geopolitically favorably situated and could have served as a potential hub for Beijing’s ambitious Silk Road project. In addition, China had hoped for large deposits of raw materials, not the least rare earths. But this never came to pass. Under the protection of NATO troops, China wanted to invest a lot in Afghanistan. But almost none of the major projects have come to fruition, as Finn Mayer-Kuckuk has analyzed. The most important Afghan export goods to the People’s Republic were not high-tech metals, but nuts and animal hair.