Kite Runner & the History of Afghanistan

By 19fairr28
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    Kite Runner & the History of Afghanistan

  • Baba is born

    1933 was the year that Baba was born and the year Zahir Shah began his 40-year reign of Afghanistan. This was also the year the family adopted Ali, Hassan's father. Amir says Baba and Ali were childhood playmates, "but in none of his stories did Baba ever refer to Ali as his friend"(25).

  • Amir is born

    Amir was born just a year before Hassan. On page 6, Amir states that Hassan was born "in the winter of 1964, just one year after my mother died giving birth to me." Even though they came from different families, they grew up together and treated each other like brothers.

  • Hassan is born

    Hassan, Amir's friend and servant, was born "one cold winter day in 1964"(6). Shortly after his birth, his mother, Sanaubar, ran off to join a clan of traveling dancers, which was "a fate most Afghans considered far worse than death"(6).

  • Baba builds the orphanage

    When Amir was about 5 or 6, his father built an orphanage. Rahim Khan told Amir the story of how "Baba had drawn the blueprints himself, despite the fact that he'd had no architectural experience at all"(13). The fact that he succeeded highlights Baba's determination and perseverance.

  • Daoud Khan takes over Afghanistan

    On the night before this day, Amir and Hassan hear shooting. Ali tries to reassure them by saying, "They're hunting ducks. They hunt ducks at night, you know. Don't be afraid"(35). On July 17, they find out Daoud Khan, the former king's cousin, had taken over Afghanistan with a bloodless coup.

  • Hassan gets his cleft lip fixed

    On Hassan's birthday, Baba gets him a doctor to fix his cleft lip as a present. Amir is jealous of Hassan because of all the attention he gets from Baba. He says, "I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba's sympathy. It wasn't fair"(46).

  • Amir wins the kite tournament; Hassan is raped by Assef

    In winter 1975, the annual kite tournament takes place. Amir wins, and Hassan offers to go run the rival kite for him. After a while, Hassan has not come back, so Amir goes out to look for him. He goes into an alleyway and sees Assef raping Hassan. Amir runs away instead of saving him, and he thinks to himself, "He was just a Hazara, wasn't he?"(77) This event changes their entire friendship. Amir stops talking to Hassan because he feels so guilty about what he did.

  • Soviet Union invades Afghanistan

    Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in order "to assist Babrak Karmal, who had become president in a coup within the Afghan Communist leadership"*. They remained there until 1989. *Source: The New York Times "Afghanistan- An Overview"

  • Amir and Baba travel to Pakistan

    In March 1981, Amir and his father attempt to sneak into Pakistan along with some other Afghans. Their truck breaks down, so they have to stow away in a fuel truck. Amir recalls what happened when they arrived in Pakistan, saying, "I remember turning my face up to the sky, squinting, breathing like the world was running out of air"(123). After traveling to Peshawar, Amir and Baba go to live in California.

  • Amir graduates high school

    In the summer of 1983, Amir graduates high school in California. He was twenty years old at the time. This is an important moment for him because he finally gains Baba's approval. Amir says, "His eyes gleamed when he said that [he was proud of me] and I liked being on the receiving end of that look"(131).

  • Amir meets General Taheri

    On a Sunday in June, Amir meets Mr. Iqbal Taheri, who is the father of his future wife, Soraya. Amir thinks to himself about how rich General Taheri looks, saying, "He smelled like cologne and wore an iron gray three-piece suit, shiny from too many pressings; the gold chain of a pocket watch dangled from his vest"(139). This event is significant because it leads Amir to Soraya.

  • Amir meets Soraya for the first time

    In the summer of 1985, Amir talks to Soraya, his future wife, for the first time. Amir is worried because he is afraid that the other Afghans will start rumours about him. He says, "Me a mojarad, a single young man, and she an unwed young woman. One with a history, no less. This was teetering dangerously on the verge of gossip material, and the best kind of it"(146).

  • Soviet Union leaves Afghanistan

    After peace talks with the UN, the Soviet Union troops finally left Afghanistan. The New York Times says, "They left behind a country that was not only devastated by the war but that had become a beacon to Islamic extremists from across the globe..."

  • Hassan reconnects with Sanaubar

    In 1990, while Hassan's wife Farzana is pregnant, an old lady who is very badly injured comes to Hassan's house. She reveals that she is Sanaubar, Hassan's mother. Sanaubar pleads for forgiveness, saying to Hassan, "You smiled coming out of me, did anyone ever tell you? And I wouldn't even hold you. Allah forgive me, I wouldn't even hold you"(210). The two end up reconnecting, and Sanaubar even delivers Farzana's child.

  • Taliban takes control of Afghanistan

    Mullah Omar and the Taliban had received funds and weapons from Pakistani intelligence officers, and by 1996 they had "taken control of Afghanistan, imposing strict enforcement of fundamentalist Islamic law..." Source: The New York Times "Afghanistan- An Overview"

  • The Taliban massacre the Hazaras

    In 1998, the Taliban massacred the Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif, including Hassan and his wife. Amir does not hear about this until he arrives in Afghanistan and Rahim Khan tells him. Amir then reflects on the day Hassan got his cleft lip fixed at the hospital. He thinks, "Now everyone in that [hospital] room was either dead or dying. Except for me"(219).

  • Amir travels to Pakistan

    In June of 2001, Amir gets the news that Rahim Khan is very ill. Rahim Khan asks Amir to go not just to see him, but to repent for what he did to Hassan. While on the phone with him, Amir learns that Rahim Khan knows what he did, and he says, "Come. There is a way to be good again"(192).

  • Amir and Sohrab come back from Afghanistan

    After a long struggle to find and adopt Sohrab, Amir finally returns to America. Soraya and Amir are excited for him to live with them, but he is still traumatized from all the events that occurred in his life. Amir says that "the color still hadn't seeped back into his face, save for the halo of dark circles around his eyes"(358). It is most likely that Sohrab was still recovering from his depression.

  • Al Qaeda attacks

    On this date, Al Qaeda launched an "attack on the World Trade Center in New York"*. This caused the US to send troops to invade Afghanistan. *Source: The New York Times "Afghanistan- An Overview"

  • The USA invades Afghanistan

    The USA invaded Afghanistan shortly after the 9/11 attacks. They allied with groups who were against the Taliban, and "an air and ground campaign began that drove the Taliban out of the major Afghan cities by the end of the year." Source: The New York Times "Afghanistan- An Overview"

  • Hamid Karzai named chairman of interim government

    Hamid Karzai was a supporter and relative of Mohammed Zahir Shah, the former king of Afghanistan. Karzai later went on to become president of the country.

  • Hamid Karzai named interim president

    Karzai was named interim president in June 2002. He stated that he "hoped to secure peace for Afghanistan and win the country much-needed international aid"(The New York Times).

  • Hamid Karzai elected president of Afghanistan

    Karzai was elected president after being interim president for two years. He was popular at first, but his popularity plunged "as Mr. Karzai faced an Afghan population that blamed him for the manifest lack of economic progress and the corrupt officials that seemed to stand at every doorway of his government." Source: The New York Times "Afghanistan- An Overview"

  • General Petraeus takes charge of US Central Command

    General Petraeus was "the Iraq commander who received much of the credit for the success of the surge there"(New York Times). He took charge of the United States Central Command and was responsible for military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  • President Obama gives speech

    On this day, Obama announced his plan to deploy 30,000 additional troops, and promised to bring American forces back from Afghanistan in 2011, saying "the United States could not afford and should not have to shoulder an open-ended commitment"(The New York Times).