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Ali is born
In Baba's birth year, Ali is a "five year-old orphan boy," meaning that his birthday must have been around 1928 (Hosseini 24). -
Period: to
Kite Runner & the History of Afghanistan
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Baba is born
In 1933, "the year Zahir Shah began his forty-year reign of Afghanistan," Amir's father is born (Hosseini 24). -
Amir is born
Because Amir recollects that Hassan's birth was "in the winter of 1964, just one year after my mother died giving birth to me," this means Amir was born in 1963 (Hosseini 6). -
Hassan is born
Hassan is born "in [the servants' shack] . . . in the winter of 1964" to Baba and Sanaubar (Hosseini 6). -
Daoud Khan stages a coup and establishes a republic
While Zahir Shah is away, Daoud Khan's coup makes the monarchy "a thing of the past" (Hosseini 36). -
Hassan's cleft lip is fixed
Baba hires a surgeon to fix Hassan's lip on his birthday, and in about a year, it only bears "a faint scar" (Hosseini 47). -
Hassan is raped
On a "frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975," Amir watches Hassan's rape and becomes traumatized (Hosseini 1). -
Hassan and Ali leave Baba's household
Just a few days after his thirteenth birthday, Amir tells "what I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies" by framing Hassan for a theft and causing him to leave (Hosseini 104). -
Political and social unrest begins with Soviet invasion
The first Soviet soldiers "parachuted into Kabul on Dec. 27,1979," and the country "has known little peace" since then (NYT 2, 1). -
Amir and Baba move to California
Since Amir states that "in 1980 . . . we were still in Kabul," that he was in America by "the spring of 1983," and that he spent a "few months" in Peshawar in 1981, it can be assumed that he and Baba moved to America sometime around the latter half of 1981 to 1982 (Hosseini 126, 127, 195). -
Amir and Baba leave Kabul
Amir and Baba are smuggled out of Kabul, hoping to end up in "the relative safety of Pakistan" (Hosseini 111). -
Amir graduates from high school
Amir graduates high school at 20 years old in the "summer of 1983" (Hosseini 131). -
Amir meets the Taheris
In 1984, "the summer I turned 21," Amir meets General Taheri and his daughter Soraya (Hosseini 136). -
Amir and Soraya marry
Four days after Baba is hospitalized "one cool Sunday after New Year's Day," Amir and Soraya are married (Hosseini 158). -
Baba dies
"A month after the wedding," after a dinner party, Baba dies of cancer (Hosseini 173). -
Amir enters college
Amir enrolls "at San Jose State that summer [of 1986]" as an English major (Hosseini 181). -
Rahim Khan meets Hassan again
Rahin Khan goes "to Hazarajat to find Hassan in 1986" and convinces him and his wife to move into Baba's old mansion with him (Hosseini 203). -
Soviet troops leave Afghanistan
After peace talks, the last Soviet soldiers "left Afghanistan in February 1989, in what was in effect a unilateral withdrawal" (NYT 2). -
Amir's first novel is published
Amir's novel is released "in the summer of . . . 1989" (Hosseini 183). -
Sanaubar moves in with Rahim Khan and Hassan
In 1990, "in the middle of the summer," Sanaubar comes to Baba's mansion with heavy wounds, and then moves in after she recovers (Hosseini 209). -
Sohrab is born
In "that winter of 1990," Sanaubar delivers Hassan's son Sohrab (Hosseini 211). -
Power is divided among different leaders
Civil war begins in the middle of 1994, and power "was anarchically divided among competing warlords and individual fiefdoms" (NYT 2). -
Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban, receives public and Pakistani support
By 1994's end, Omar "had nearly 12000 followers" and Pakistani officers "began funneling arms, money, and supplies" to his group (NYT 2, 3). -
Sanaubar dies
Sanaubar "lived to see [Sohrab] turn four and then, one morning, she just did not wake up" (Hosseini 211). -
The Taliban take control of Afghanistan
Omar's group has control over nearly all of the country, and is "imposing strict enforcement of fundamentalist Islamic law" (NYT 3). -
Osama bin Laden, leader of Al-Qaeda, arrives in Afghanistan
The extremist leader bin Laden "arrived by chartered jet at Jalalabad Airport" in May of 1996 (NYT 3). -
Hassan dies
Rahim Khan tells Amir that "six months ago, a few days before I left for Peshawar," Hassan and his wife were killed by Taliban officials, meaning he died in late 2000 or early 2001 (Hosseini 218). -
Hamid Karzai is pronounced the chairman of a new government
Karzai is the new leader of "an interim government that replaced the defeated Taliban" (NYT 3). -
United States begin fighting in Afghanistan
After the September 11 attacks, the United States become "militarily involved" in the wars against Osama bin Laden (NYT 1). -
Rahim Khan calls Amir and Amir travels to Afghanistan
In the summer of 2001, Amir receives a call from Rahim Khan and is told "there is a way to be good again," leading to his decision to visit him (Hosseini 2). -
Amir travels to Kabul to search for Sohrab
After hearing Rahim Khan's request, Amir decides to look for Hassan's son to save the "little part of him [that] lived on" (Hosseini 227). -
Amir fights Assef and rescues Sohrab
Assef tries to take care of "'some unfinished business'" by beating Amir up when he tries to rescue Sohrab, but the latter two escape because Sohrab shoots Assef's eye out with his slingshot (Hosseini 286). -
Sohrab attempts suicide
After hearing "the news he feared most," that he may have to go back to an orphanage, Sohrab is so upset that he cuts himself with a razor; he survives, but becomes depressed and is mute for almost a year afterward (Hosseini 351). -
Amir and Sohrab return to America
On "a warn day in August 2001," Amir comes home to America with a depressed and silent Sohrab (Hosseini 357). -
Al-Qaeda attacks the United States' World Trade Center
The group launches an aerial attack "on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001" (NYT 3). -
The Kite Runner ends
On "a cool rainy day in March 2002," Amir and Sohrab run a kite, and Sohrab smiles for the first time in a year (Hosseini 363). -
Karzai is officially elected as Afghanistan's president
After a long period of disrest, Karzai is "elected to a five-year term as president" of the country (NYT 3).