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Amir's Born
Amir is born and his mother, Sofia Akrami, dies during labor. -
Hassan is born
Baba had been friends with Ali his whole life and he had just had his kid Amir, the next year "In that little shack, that Hassan was born in the winter of 1964, just one year after my mother died in childbirth"(Hosseini 6) This quote shows the beginning of a powerful friendship between Amir and Hassan. Amir's mother had died, and Hassan's ran away a few days after he was born, this could be a big part in the plot of the book. -
Amir wins the kite contest
Every year there was one big kite running tournament, and his year Hassan an Amir had a chance of winning. Amir was in the finals with one kite left to cut when he made his move. "The moment came. I closed my eyes and loosened my grip on the string. It sliced through my fingers again as the wind dragged it. And then ... I didn't need to hear the crowds roar to know ... 'You won Amir agha! You won'" (Hosseini 66) Amir won the kit running tournament and finally was able to make his father proud. -
Assef rapes Hassan
Hassan was going to fetch the last kite that Amir had cut to win the tournament when he ran into Assef. Assef remember Hassan and wanted to "punish him". "Assef knelt behind Hassan, put his hands of Hassan's hips and lifted his bare buttocks ... He unzipped his jeans. Dropped his underwear. He positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn't struggle." (Hosseini 75) Amir watched as Hassan got raped and he didn't do anything, this ended up haunting him for the rest of his life. -
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Invasion of the Soviet union
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in attempt to "replace Hafizullah Amin, the Afghan leader, who had lost their trust," (NYT). The occupation lasted about ten years. -
Amir and Baba make it to Pakistan
Baba and Amir were running from the war that they knew was coming, they took a truck to Pakistan. Amir fell asleep on the ride an he woke up to "'We're in Pakistan Amir' Baba said. ... 'Karim says he will call for a bus to take us too Peshawar'" (Hosseini 123) The war was coming and thousands of Afghanis were trying to get out of Afghanistan, and Baba and Amir had just made it. On the way they suffered hardships like a Russian soldier attacking a women, but the persevered. -
Amir graduates from high school
Too most people this is not a big deal but to Amir it was one of the first things he did that made Baba proud of him, he thought. When he saw Baba "He walked to me .. 'I am moftakhir, Amir' he said. Proud," (131). All of Amir's life he felt like he had let Baba down. When Baba said this at his graduation, his eyes gleamed and he felt like he had done something amazing. -
Amir see's his wife to be for the first time.
Amir didn't know it at the time but as soon as he saw her he "blinked, my heart quickened. She had thick black eyebrows that touched in the middle like the arched wings of a flying bird," (Hosseini 140) The girl didn't even say a word and he was already was interested in her and was nervous around her. She was a Afghanistan from a honorable family too, so Amir knew that Baba was going to proud of him if he was able to steal this girls heart, so he knew that that's what he would have to do. -
Amir Finishes his First Novel.
Amir had been working on stories since he had graduated high school in 1984 so this was a big deal to him. The story was a " father-son story set in Kabul, written mostly with the typewriter the general had given me .. I opened my mailbox and found a request from a New York agency." (Hosseini 182) Earlier in the book Amir tells Baba it is hard for a writer to get discovered, and he did on his first novel to it had to be a big deal to him. It was soon after Baba died so Amir was relieved. -
Sanaubar apologizes to Hassan
Sanubar had left Hassan just three days after he was born, and nobody really knew why. When she came back to see Hassan she said "'To see if your are as beautiful in the flesh as you are in my dreams. And you are. Even more.'" (Hosseini 210) Sanubar had left Hassan days after he was born and now she came back and apologize for all the harm that she caused him. Hassan accepted the apology and gave his mother a second chance in his life. -
Pakistani intelligence assist the Taliban
In 1994, Pakistani officers start providing the Taliban with "arms, money and supplies to Mullah Omar's men," (NYT). These supplies were used to help them in battle. -
Taliban takes over
The Taliban has seized control of the country, and starts to impose and enforce strict laws. -
Osama Bin Laden
Osama Bin Laden arrives in Afghanistan. -
Mazar-i-sharif Massacre
Afghanistan was just in a major war with the soviets. And just after the Soviets left "the Taliban banned kite fighting. And two years later, in 1998, they massacred the Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif" (Hosseini 213) The Afghanis were so excited to have just had their war end, and almost immediately after their happiness was stripped by the Taliban. There was nothing these people could do against the Taliban it was their government and when they did the massacre people just watched in horror. -
Driven out of major cities
After the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, US troops joined their forces with rebels to drive the Taliban out of major cities by the end of the year. -
Amir discharges himself from the hospital
After Amir gets beaten to a pulp by Assef he is in the hospital, but he knows he has to get out soon so he doesn't get killed, "I told Armand early that next day that I was leaving ... Armand protested ... 'I have to go,' I said." (Hosseini 306) Amir was scared that the Taliban would come and get him, but because he was smart he didn't tell anyone where he was going to go. He took Sohrab with him, and they left. -
Sohrab goes with Amir to America
It took them over a month just to get Sohrab into America, and when they got there, he wasn't happy to be there. "We arrived home about seven months ago, in a warm day in August 2001. ... Sohrab shifted on his feet and looked away." (Hosseini 357-358) When most people get to America and out of a war raged country, but Sohrab couldn't stand the culture. Even though he was just a kid he had grown up in Afghanistan culture and didn't want to adjust the American culture. -
Amir visits Rahim Kahn
Amir hadn't seen Rahim Khan since he had left for America and ""The elephant in the room" saying. Nothing could more correctly describe the initial moments of my reunion with Rahim Khan" (Hosseini 197) They hadn't spoken in over 15 years, and now it was just awkward, but after the first few minutes of awkwardness they became comfortable together. They were having a conversation like old friends would, then it got really bad when Rahim Khan told Amir what had happened since he left. -
Amir is beaten up by Assef
As soon as Assef found out that Amir was the one that was trying to get the boy, he got mad, Amir remembered "His brass knuckles flashing in the afternoon night; how cold they felt with the first few blows .. and how they warmed with my blood." (Hosseini 288) Amir was getting beaten senseless, until he laughed. He laughed because he felt like he finally got what he deserved from what happened 26 years ago. Sohrab ended up saving him by shooting Assef with his sling-shot. -
The World Trade Center Attacks
The Taliban orchestrates an attack which sent planes into both towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon. The last flight, flight 93, was crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, but was thought to be targeted for the White House. -
Sohrab shows first sign of happiness
Amir was teaching Sohrab how to kite fight, and when he cut the last kite he looked down at Sohrab. "One corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile. Lopsided. hardly there. but there." (Hosseini 370-371) This was a big deal for Amir because he was starting to worry if Sohrab was ever going to be happy in America, and when he smiled, just that little bit, Amir knew that everything was going to turn out ok. And it did. -
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai becomes president of Afghanistan for a five year term. -
General Petraeus
In the October of 2008, General Petraeus is put in charge of military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries in that region. -
Plan to Deploy
President Barack Obama announces a plan to deploy 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. -
Returning home
The year when Barack Obama predicted troops would return from Afghanistan