Afghanistan has a rich Buddhist and Hindu heritage, with significant archaeological sites like Bamiyan, which was a major Buddhist center. This links Afghanistan culturally to India, China, and Southeast Asia.

She reached for her go-bag.

“He never wanted the link recovered,” Hakim said. “He wanted it lost. And now he’s selling the access codes himself. You want to break the Afghanistan link for good? You have 36 hours before that hardware reaches a foreign lab.”