At the End of the Road

The Afghan Ring Road. A road that exists in reality and is yet a mystery. The 3,200-kilometre circular highway connects the country’s most important cities. It promised unity and prosperity. It has been under construction for sixty years, but it is still not finished. Corruption and mismanagement have swallowed up huge sums of money. After the invasion of Western troops, the road became a bloody battlefield.

Hardly any other German journalist knows Afghanistan as well as Wolfgang Bauer. The Zeit reporter was on the ground many times and has vividly described the fates of the people in award-winning reportages. He warned of a return of the Taliban early on. In August 2021, one of his closest colleagues was murdered.

After the fall of Kabul, Wolfgang Bauer returns one more time. He travels the Ring Road, visits places he has visited in the last 20 years – and investigates the question: Why has the West failed in Afghanistan? What does this failure have to do with billions in development aid? And where do things go from here? His reportage is a parable about hope and failure in the Hindu Kush.

»... unsparing and therefore suitable compulsory reading in all government headquarters around the world.« Victor Mauer, NZZ am Sonntag

»The author is a master of the reportage genre – it’s palpable in every line. He describes his impressions of the country that the West has tried to modernise for 20 years in a gripping way.« Manon Bischoff, Spektrum der Wissenschaft

»Strongly recommend this book that tells tragic, heartbreaking unbelievable stories of stolen girls in Nigeria.« Malala Yousafzai on Stolen Girls

»Must read. Stolen Girls, their own words, abt surviving Boko Haram, abt which even less is known than N Korea. W Bauer great journalist.« Ashley Judd on Twitter on Stolen Girls

»As a profound expert, Bauer draws us into a world that he is able to explain with all its horrors – and in that regard, in explaining, describing and analysing, alert, with a clear mind and elegant style, he is superior to TV’s blurry images of war and catastrophe.« Roland Müller, Stuttgarter Zeitung on Stolen Girls