Political Turmoil In The Kite Runner

Effects of Political Turmoil on Culture in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Modern Afghanistan “War doesn't negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace”(115) contradicts the Afghan mindset in The Kite Runner. Baba has a rare opinion among Afghan people. The Taliban fulfills a notorious reputation for actions that are indecent and rude. In The Kite Runner, the constant political turmoil and shift in laws has a profound effect on the Afghan people. At the start of The Kite Runner, the 1960s-70s, the environment appears quite western and calm, at least for Amir. He visits the movie theatre, the market, and children can roam freely in the streets with no immediate danger. Women were free to move around the country, and people expressed their

“He says someday we’ll have television in Kabul,”...“I heard they already have it in Iran,”

His saying that made me kind of sad. Sad for who Hassan was, where he lived. For how he’d accepted the fact that he’d grow old in that mud shack in the yard, the way his father had.”

They look forward to having a TV, but in reality, Afghanistan is years behind other countries, with TVs having been common in homes since the 1950s in other countries

The culture becomes more hidden. Acting up against the regime are various rebel groups, who begin to receive arms from the US(Which quickly backfires in the faces of our military generals). Life becomes dangerous. Amir and Baba flee Afghanistan, to avoid certain peril. In the next ten years, Soviets gain more and more control, and maintain an extremely strong influence up until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Amir’s encounters with Soviet soldiers showed him some things he had never seen, which shocked him, and even though he disapproved, he tried to convince Baba to not stand up for people. He changes when he comes back to Afghanistan