i never expect that chinese are so welcomed in afghanistan, and even my friend, who just came back from there, can't explain why. however, afghans are proud people, according to my friend, they won't bargain too much for their products, and will NEVER ask you come back if you pretend to leave them in order to get a better deal (a trick mostly works in china).
americans are proud people too. a der spiegel report says, last week a german plane with food for katrina victims was rejected to land the US, and it's believed:
... the Bush government was trying to avoid embarrassing images of Europeans making food relief deliveries to the States.
chinese are even more proud than americans, we refused any foreign aid when a horrible earthquake destroied the city of Tangshan and killed 200 k residents. yesterday i heard another story from a beijing cab driver, who said he kicked two shanghai passengers out from his cab when they whispered to each other complaining the driver not taking the shortcut.
afghans are perhaps more proud than chinese. according to my friend, many afghans know where bin laden is and how to find him, but for the sake of PRIDE, they won't tell proud americans where bin laden is, it has nothting to do with sympathy for bin laden or terrorism, bin laden is their guest and their PRIDE doesn't allow them to sell a guest out for money or anything else.