The Kite Runner: Historical, Political and Cultural Contexts

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The Kite Runner Historical, Political and
Cultural Contexts

• By
• Hamed Madani

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The Kite Runner Introduction
INTRODUCTION ?First novel to be written in Englis
h ?Title is derived from an old Afghan hobby
Gudiparan Bazi or Kite Flying ?It is a un
ique Afghan pastime during windy spring seas
on ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Khalid Husseini ?Born in
1965 in Kabul, Afghanistan ?Moved to the States
in 1980

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About the Author
?Attended Santa Clara University, Cal.
?Graduated from UC San Diego School
of Medicine in 1996. ?His specialty is intern
al medicine. SYNOPSIS ?The novel maps the jour
ney of the Amir, the narrator ?The story tak
es place in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the U
nited States from 1975 to 2003.
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Ethnicity
?Hazaras consists of about10 to 15 percent
?Uzbaks consists of about 9 percent
?Others (Turkmen, Aimaq, Baluch, Nuristani) 13
percent.
Tajik
Hazara
Pashtun
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Baluch
Uzbak
Pashtun
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Religious Diversity
?Afghanistan has two dominant religious groups,
the Sunni, or the so-called orthodox Islam, a
nd Shiite or the so-called heterodox. ?Su
nni constitutes 85 percent of the population and
Shiite consists of 15 percent of Afghan pop
ulation ?Shiites split from the Sunnis in the s
eventh century over who the Prohet Mohammads
legitimate successors were ?Shiites consider Al
i, the cousin and son-in-law of the
Prophet, the legitimate successor
?Shiites developed their own conception of
Islamic law and practices. ?In the past Shi
ites had been persecuted in Afghanistan.
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Synopsis
Amir belongs to ? a wealthy family whose father
is a businessman ?the dominant Pashtun ethnic gro
up ?the dominant Sunni religious group Amir tell
s the story of his friendship with Hassan.
?Hassan and his father, Ali, are Amirs servants
?He is a low-caste ethnic Hazara
?He belongs to the minority Shiit religious
denomination ?He is the victim of discriminati
on due to his religious and ethnic identity
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Conclusion
?The Kite Runner leaves one feeling a terrible
Sadness for the Afghan people
?Afghans have suffered at the hands of foreign
invaders and their own people throughout the
history of Afghanistan and particularly in
the past 30 years. ?In The Kite Runner, Kha
lid Husseini brilliantly tells their sto
ry within a story.
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Background to The Kite Runner
To better understand an appreciate the context of
The Kite Runner, basic understand of Afghan hist
ory, politics, and culture is necessary. HIST
ORICAL BACKGROUND ?For majority of its history, A
fghanistan was at a crossroad of many civiliz
ations and empires and a cockpit for
contests between rivals ?These rivals and emp
ires included Achaemenid, Ancient
Greece, Mauryan, Sassanian, Aabs, Mongol,
Mogul, and Safawid ?The Safawids ruled in w
estern Afghanistan and the Moguls
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The Abdali or Durrani Rulers
?President Mohammad Daoud was the last
ruler. ?He was the Prime Minister from 1953-19
63 ?Took power from the last Afghan king in
1973 in a coup with the help of Afghan
communists and changed Afghanistan to a
Republic, 1973-1978 ?Deposed by the Afgha
n communists in a bloody coup in April 1
978 ?King Zaher Shah is still alive at the ag
e of 93. ?He is given the title of
Baba.
Daoud
King Zaher
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A New Game The Cold War
?The Soviet Union and United States became the
dominant powers after World War II. ?The two
world powers sought influence around the world,
including Afghanistan ?Afghanistan regained i
ts status as a pawn of superpowers
?This superpower rivalries during the Cold War
led to further disintegration of the Afghan s
tate. COMPETITION BEARS ARMS ?Afghan government
needed to modernize its armed
forces to ?Maintain internal securi
ty ?Gain control of independent tribes
? Strengthen central
government to foster political and economic d
evelopment
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A New Game the Cold War
?When the U.S. government rejected Afghan reque
st for arms, Afghans turned to the Soviet Un
ion ?The Soviet Union not only provided Afghanist
an military hardware, but also built several
airports and thousands of Afghans went the So
viet Union for military training.
?Most of the officers either joined the Afghan
Communist Party or became sympathetic to it.
ORIGIN OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY ?The Peoples Dem
ocratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA)
was formed in 1965 ?The PDPA split and remain
ed divided until July 1977
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The Peoples Democratic Party
?The Soviets concluded that Daoud had become too
independent to be tolerated.
THE SAUR REVOLUTION ?The Soviet KGB reunited the
two factions of the PDPA ?A prominent PDPA leader
, Mir A. Khyber, was assassinated in April,
1978. ?His murder led to a bloody coup on April 2
7, 1978. ?The coup leaders renamed the country th
e Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. ?Tarak
i became the Prime Minister ?Karmal and Amin beca
me Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
, respectively.
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Amins Social Reforms
SOCIAL REFORMS ?Land reform limited land owners
hip by a family to 14.3 acres of land. ?Redu
cing bride-prices or dowry to 300 Afghani or
6.00 ?Prohibiting arranged marriages ?Prohibiti
ng marriage for women under 16 years and for men
under 18 years of age. ?Outlawed usury OPPOS
ITION AND RESISTENCE TO REFORMS
?These reforms challenged the prevailing
traditional and Islamic values and sentiment
s of Afghans. ?The regime encountered bitter resi
stance.
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Resistance Movement
?Opposition took the form of a religious jihad or
holy war, a war in defense of Islam against t
h atheist regime of kabul. ?The oppositions estab
lished their headquarters and bases
in Peshawar, Pakistan. ?They were made up of
seven military-political groups.
?Here are the pictures of some of the leaders
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6
8
1
5
3
7
4
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The CIA and the Arabs
?The CIA launched a major covert operation to
help the Mujahideen defeat communism. ?The C
IA placed ads in Arab newspapers to recruit
young Muslims to join the Afghan holy war.
?The CIA eventually provided the Mujahideen with
the decisive weapon of the war, the Stinger m
issiles in 1986. ?Eventually the Soviet Union wit
hdrew its forces from Afghanistan on February
15, 1989. ?The last Afghan Communist ruled sever
al more years.
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The Taliban
?The world Taliban is the plural of and Arabic
word, Talib or someone who seeks religious kn
owledge before he becomes a preacher in a mos
que. ?They were the sons of Afghan refugees in Pa
kistan and attended Pakistani schools of theo
logy ?Became active in October 1994 in Qandahar a
nd continued there advances in the country w
ith help of Pakistan ?By 1997 they held abou
t 90 percent of the Afghan territory, includ
ing Kabul. THE TALIBAN ACHIEVEMENT ?They broug
ht relative peace and security in the country
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The Talibans Achievement
?The banished the warlords and forced to the
northeastern corner the country and formed th
e Northern Alliance ?Restored law and order but t
hrough rigorous enforcement of Islamic punish
ment public beating, flogging,
amputation of hands, and stoning to death.
?The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and
Suppression of Vice was the powerful arm of t
he Taliban government. ?The ministry issued stric
t religious decrees that denied
people the right to freedom of expression,
association, the right to work, and the right
to education ?They prohibited games such as kite
flying, chess, music, cassette
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The Taliban and the World Reaction
?Only three countries recognized the Taliban
government Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emi
rates, and Pakistan ?Initially, America gave a lu
kewarm support to the Taliban ?We hoped the regim
e would be a partner in oil-pipeline
UNOCAL or Union Oil Company of California
CONCLUSION ?The new game, Cold War, between the U
.S.A. and the former Soviet Union brought de
ath and utter destruction to the country. ?
Over 5 million Afghans abandoned their homes and
went into exile in other countries. ?Close t
o 1.5 million lost their lives
?Many left their homes for secured areas of the
country.
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Other Factors the Contributed to a Failed State
in Afghanistan
A DIVERSE NATION ?Afghanistan is nation of groups
with disparate ethnic, religious, and tribal
traditions. ETHNIC DIVERSITY ?Over 30 differe
nt ethnic groups. They are not contained
within Afghanistan. ?Pashtuns are the dominan
t ethnic groups, who account for
about 38 percent of the population and ruled
Afghanistan for most of the history of Afghani
stan. ?Tajiks are the second largest ethnic group
s with about 25 percent of the population.