Hairatan, Northern Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghan visitors pose for photos and pretend to sell each other passenger tickets next to a rusty little locomotive in a shattered corner of the Afghan capital. Built in Germany in 1923, this little engine is all that is left of King Amanullah Khan's effort to modernize Afghanistan by constructing a 7 kilometer-long railroad in downtown Kabul in the 1920s. The locomotive is now a curiosity at the Kabul Museum, standing below the ruins of the former king's battle-scarred palace. For 24-year old Abil Ahmad, it is the first time he has seen a train in Afghanistan.
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Afghanistan skipped the age of railroads
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A line is under construction in the north
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Rail lines seen crucial to extracting Afghanistan's mineral wealth
The @placeholder government is counting on untapped mineral resources to be the main engine for economic growth in coming decades.