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We Investigated China’s Secret Highway

fern | July 13, 2026



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Special thanks to Rick Noack for the valuable insights, to ‪@valilevi for traveling to Afghanistan for us and the Afghan Crew and Secret Compass for their support (https://secretcompass.com/).

We travel to Afghanistan to investigate how a Taliban highway in the Wakhan Corridor could expand China’s influence and change global trade.

Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PjXU15Iw0SuqU5amzK-tYEPE9w8dCoz29vp9WJheCMQ/edit?usp=sharing

Music list:

EpidemicSound:
Rymdklang Soundtracks feat. Yinon Muallem – The Sands of Time
Siddharth Parashar – Shri Ram Stuti
Siddharth Parashar – Abhogi

Artlist:
Swirling Ship – Fixed – Short version b
Jakub Pietras – Desert Takes the Weak
Roie Shpigler – Cairo.wav
Michael Vignola – Calling for You
Videmar – Desert Pulse
Aves – Better
Jeremy Chontow – Arrival
Jakub Pietras – The Case of the Missing Cat
Jeremy Chontow – Arrival
Notize – Desert Prophet
Linus Johnsson – The Children of the Woods
Itai Armon – Armenian Dream (Intro)
Suraj Nepal – Tangerine Sunset
Inon Zur – Northern Lights

Lens Distortions:
Force Multiplier – Do the Work
Challengers – Time Horizon
Challengers – Launch Mode
Modern Explorers IV – Nature’s Claim
The Last City – Prove Me Wrong
EXC – Rematch
Eyes of the Nation – Stronger
Modern Explorers IV – Ice Climb
Take the Crown – Take the Crown

Envato:
Arabic Ident – Underscore
ArtHaiz – Arabic Islamic

Tom Fox:
Islands

Audiio:
Fade -Light – His Time
Liam Back – Druid Theories
Faded Light – Abstraction
CAPE – DeKlerk
SebastianPangal – WinterFrost
BradHill – TroubleInDarkness
MarkoMaksimovic – AmbientCave
Kveld – Rootbound
CAPE – CODESA
CAPE – TheOtherMan
Josh Alan – Umbra Umbra (Instrumental)

Studio Soma:
Hiking in the Graveyard of Empires
A Woman’s Plight

_____
Armchair documentaries, almost weekly

Written by fern

Comments

This post currently has 37 comments.

  6. @Raznosac

    July 13, 2026 at 10:02 pm

    This is pitiful. The westerners cannot make one infrastructure development video without a pile of their political propaganda. This has absolutely nothing to do with Wakhan corridor nor the road construction.

  8. @bobbyb379

    July 13, 2026 at 10:02 pm

    China is foolish if it thinks it can rely on the Taliban to keep the road open. Look at what happened recently with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. US foreign policy and military power rendered useless in the face of speedboats and cheap drones threatening oil tankers. Great empires have been humbled in Afghanistan by guerillas using the rugged landscape to hit and run. Rich convoys of goods traveling on roads through remote regions will become a prime target. China must know this. They’ve got an ulterior motive here other than logistics.

  10. @adewirawiri

    July 13, 2026 at 10:02 pm

    Come for the "secret highway". 20 minutes into the video. Still no new information about the highway, and somehow I learn anything else about Afghanistan, but not the highway itself.

  22. @devinmichaelroberts9954

    July 13, 2026 at 10:02 pm

    yea this will not do much honestly… they already have many roads leading to europe from china. This is a highway through a very unstable region where bribes, crime, theft of goods are rampant.

  27. @Jeepinwargammer

    July 13, 2026 at 10:02 pm

    4:00 'Altitude sickness is a real concern' Yea they never told us that during the war…. was a nice little surprise. After dealing with these violent individuals for years I can say that Val is super brave.

  33. @Gwendythefluff

    July 13, 2026 at 10:02 pm

    What I hate as a European is to see how much we fucked the world by trying to hoard and control.

    You see all these beautiful places with amazing people and yet all they remember is that there was a war between 2 entities and that this war started the situation they are right now

Comments are closed.

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