China is moving to revitalize the ancient Silk Road trade route, and its plan runs through a nation that has bedeviled both the U.S. and Russia for decades: Afghanistan.
In 2011, the U.S. unveiled a plan for a New Silk Road that would help Afghanistan strengthen relationships with its neighbors through resumed trading routes and the rebuilding of critical infrastructure. It was supposed to promote stability in the region after the U.S. began to withdraw its forces. Two years later China announced its own blueprint for the long-defunct trade corridor, called the Belt and Road Initiative, and according to foreign policy experts, China's ambitions are now plowing right over the U.S. plan.