The Kite Runner

Afghanistan

•Islamic Republic

•Hamid Karzai- President since December 7, 2004

•Elected directly by the people

•Independence:August 19, 1919 from UK

Afghanistan

Slightly smaller than Texas

•Afghanistan is a landlocked

country, making the export of

goods difficult and expensive.

•It has rugged mountains and

plains and is prone to natural

disasters such as earthquakes

and drought.

•Temperatures are extreme, as

hot as 120° F in the summer

and as cold as -15° F in the

winter.

•There are limited natural fresh

water sources, and most of the

land has been overgrazed and

deforested, causing

desertification and soil

degradation, making farming

difficult.

Afghanistan History and Facts•Ahmad Shah Durrani unified the Pashtun tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747.

•The country served as a buffer between the British and Russian empires until it won independence from British control in 1919.

Referred to as “a goat between two lions.”

•The Soviet Union invaded in 1979 to support the Afghan Communist party but withdrew 10 years later under relentless pressure by internationally supported anti-Communist mujahedin (holy warrior) rebels.

•A civil war between mujahedin factions erupted following the 1992 fall of the Communist regime.

•The Taliban, a hardline Pakistani-sponsored movement that emerged in 1994 to end the country's civil war, seized Kabul in 1996, promising traditional, Islamic values and imposing strict Islamic law, including revoking many women’s rights..

•Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a US, Allied, and Northern Alliance military action toppled the Taliban for sheltering Osama bin Laden. US forces are still there.

•On December 7, 2004, Hamid Karzai became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan. The National Assembly was inaugurated on 19 December 2005.

Afghan Countryside

•Population:31,056,997 (July 2006 est.)

•Life expectancy at birth:total population: 43.34 years male: 43.16 years female: 43.53 years (2006 est.)

•Total fertility rate:6.69 children born/woman (2006 est.)

•Ethnic groups:Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%

•Religions:Sunni Muslim 80%, Shi'a Muslim 19%, other 1%

Pashtun: largest ethnic

group, mostly farmers and

Sunni Muslims

Tajik: live mostly in the

northeast, second largest

ethnic group, mostly Sunni

Muslims

Hazara: live in the Hindu

Kush mountains, primarily

Shiite Muslims

Uzbek: live mostly along

the northern border,

mostly Sunni Muslims

Aimaqs: a farming and

herding tribe in the west,

mostly Sunni Muslims

Turkmen and Kirghiz:

nomadic herders and

craftsmen, mostly Sunni

Muslims

Baluch: nomadic tribe

living in the southern

deserts, Sunni Muslims

•Literacy:total population: 36% male: 51% female: 21% (1999 est.)

•GDP - per capita (PPP): $800 (2004 est.)

•Economy dependent on foreign aid, farming, opium and trade with neighbors

•Unemployment rate: 40% (2005 est.)

•Population below poverty line: 53% (2003)

•Climate:

arid to semiarid; cold winters and hot summers

•Terrain:

mostly rugged mountains; plains in north and southwest

The Afghan people are some of the poorest in the world and

are members of many different ethnic groups. This woman

is part of a herding tribe and is drying dung to use as

insulation in her home during the winter. Life is difficult for

most Afghans as they have faced drought, famine and war

for many years

Kabul City, 1960s

After 24 years of war, much of Kabul lies in ruins.

-June 2003

Issues

•Damaging earthquakes, Flooding; Droughts

•War continues

•Has 200,000-300,000 displaced people due to drought and war

•Has serious illegal drug production problem--#1 in opium production which makes heroin

Islam•Islam is the world’s second largest religion, with 21% of all people

practicing this faith.

•Islam teaches that one can only find peace in life by submitting to Allah

(Almighty God) in heart, soul, and deed.

•The Quran is the holy guide to Islam.

•Major aspects of the Islamic religion include testimony of faith, prayer,

fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage.

•“Covering” is a religious duty. Women can only have their faces and

hands showing in public. Men must not expose anything from navel to

knee.

•Sunni and Shia are the two most common forms of Islam with different

beliefs in some of the specific premises of the religion.

•One of the main distinctions between Sunni and Shi’ite faiths is that

Shi’ites follow a religious leader called an imam, who is regarded as

Mohammed’s successor and an intermediary between Allah and the

faithful.

•To calculate the Islamic year, subtract 621 years from the western Gregorian calendar date. For example: 2003 – 621 = 1382

TalibanPrior to 2001, the Taliban, led by Mullah

Mohammad Omar, ruled Afghanistan

under Islamic law. During this time,

women had virtually no rights and received

no education. Watching television and

listening to music were forbidden, as were

playing games and sports.

The United States entered Afghanistan in

October 2001 and replaced the Taliban

with an elected president. While the

Taliban lost some power and the people

regained some rights, the Taliban has not

gone away. Instead, it has worked to

regain power by promising to help

Afghanistan’s poorest people and aligning

itself with warlords, al-Qaida, and other

militant groups to gain financial support

and recruit new fighters.

President Hamid Karzai was the

first elected president in the

history of Afghanistan. He came

to power after the Taliban was

overthrown in late 2001. He was

formally elected to a five-year

term in 2004. Karzai has survived

numerous assassination attempts

and has been assigned the task

of rebuilding Afghanistan. Some

of the major problems he must

address include providing the

country with an infrastructure so

that citizens have the basic

necessities of life, keeping the

Taliban out of power and

controlling the warlords who

perpetuate the illegal drug trade.

FAMILY LIFE

Afghans usually live in extended families headed by an elder male, who together with

other males has formal authority over the family. People usually marry within their own

ancestral group, and tend to marry in their late teens. Since marriage affects economic,

political and social standing, it is a public decision of two families. After a marriage

contract has been signed, elaborate rituals and customs mark the formal engagement

celebration and marriage ceremony.

Afghan houses traditionally consist of a series of rooms surrounding a private,

rectangular courtyard where women play with their children, cook and socialize.

Married sons share the same compound with their parents, though often have separate

quarters for their families. Houses may also contain a special room for men to entertain

male friends. In cities, some Afghans live in apartment buildings. Nomadic Afghans

live in tents.

Traditional Afghan society segregates men and women and imposes special regulations

for women’s conduct. Husbands traditionally had the power to decide when women

could leave the house, and many women spent their adult lives in purdah (seclusion),

seeing only men from their family. The introduction of universal suffrage in 1965

dramatically changed women’s position: while they still maintained their traditional

responsibilities at home, many women, particularly in cities, moved into the workforce

and established careers in the professions. Both the Mujahidin and Taliban governments

instituted repressive measures against women, including prohibitions against women’s

education and employment. However, with the Taliban’s loss of power, women have

been regaining their old freedoms.

Northern Afghan men adore buzkashi ("grab the goat"), an ancient game that is believed

to have been developed in central Asia and is considered part of Afghan’s noble past.

While various peoples play the game, the Uzbeks are considered its champions. Played

on horseback, buzkashi may involve hundreds of players. Teams are limited to 10 men.

A headless carcass, nowadays usually from a calf, is thrown on the ground in the centre

of the circle of horsemen. At a signal, the riders rush in and each tries to lift the carcass

onto his horse, a task that alone takes great strength. Yet to score a goal, the rider with

the carcass must also gallop to a goal point (often over a mile away) through opposing

riders armed with whips, then return to the starting point and drop the calf where it was

picked up. The horses used for buzkashi are specially trained and costly.

Children’s games in Afghanistan include tag, blind-man’s buff,

kite flying and hopscotch. Girls enjoy volleyball, basketball

and playing with homemade dolls, while boys play soccer or

make slingshots. A game called buzul-bazi, similar to marbles,

uses sheep knuckle bones. In winter, Afghan children enjoy

having snowball fights. Some people also ski near Kabul.

Kite flying is more than a

pastime in Afghanistan -- it is

a national obsession. The

streets of the capital, Kabul,

are filled with shops selling

kite-flying equipment, and the

skies above the city are

decorated each day with

hundreds of colorful kites

fluttering in the wind. Banned

by the Taliban as un-Islamic,

kite flying has now hit new

heights of popularity in the

country. Afghans have

elevated kite flying to an art

form, and one of its chief

attractions is kite fighting.

During the fight, or "jang," two kites are flown close to one

another, often to great heights. The object is then to use the wire or

glass coated string of your kite to cut the wire of your opponent's

kite to set it free and away.

When an opponent's kite is cut free, it flutters away into the far

reaches of the city. Such kites are said to be "azadi rawest," or "free

and legal," and can be retrieved by neighborhood children to fly

another day. These children are the kite runners. Each neighborhood

also crowns its own "sharti," or kite-fighting champion.

Winter is one of the most popular times for kite flying in Afghanistan. The winds are

strong, and schools are closed because of the cold weather.

- While it brings mostly smiles, kite flying is also dangerous. Many people are injured

when they fall from roofs while chasing free floating kites or when they lose

concentration and footing during a heated battle.

A kite figther named Sharif recalls the glory days of kite flying in Kabul, before the

Taliban.

"Before the Taliban, people used to fly kites in a place called Chaman-i-Babrak (in

northern Kabul), and kite flying competitions were held there. Kids, young people,

and older people from all over Afghanistan and Kabul City would gather there. They

used to lay wagers on fighting kites."

He was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965.

His father was a diplomat with the Afghan

Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi

and History at a large high school in Kabul. In

1976, the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated

the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready

to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then

Afghanistan had already witnessed a bloody

communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet

army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted

political asylum in the United States. In

September of 1980, Hosseini's family moved to

San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from

high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa

Clara University where he earned a bachelor's

degree in Biology in 1988. The following year,

he entered the University of California-San

Diego's School of Medicine, where he earned a

Medical Degree in 1993. He completed his

residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los

Angeles. Hosseini was a practicing internist

between 1996 and 2004.

While in medical practice, Hosseini began

writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, in

March of 2001. In 2003, The Kite Runner, was

published and has since become an

international bestseller, published in 38

countries. In 2006 he was named a goodwill

envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee

Agency. His second novel, A Thousand Splendid

Suns was published in May of 2007. He lives in

northern California.

Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner is a powerful and moving novel set in Afghanistan and America. The narrator, Amir, is the privileged son of Baba, a rich businessman, member of the influential Pashtun tribe and Suni Muslim, who tells the story of his friendship with Hassan, a low-caste ethnic Hazara and Shi'a.

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http://library.syr.edu/instruction/class/sharreadKite/

Works Cited