AFGHANISTAN-ECONOMY-RAILWAY

An Afghan policeman patrols alongside a new railway track in Hairatan, on January 2, 2012, close to the northern border of Afghanistan with Uzbekistan. The railway track which is Afghanistan's first is said by authorities to be a revolutionary project that could revive the poverty-stricken, war-ravaged, landlocked country's status as a thriving "silk road" trade hub. AFP PHOTO/Qais Usyan