Transcript Document

The Kite Runner: An Introduction
Afghanistan has had a long history of
internal and external conflicts, including
two wars with the United Kingdom in the
1800s and an invasion by the Soviet
Union in 1979. Since the Soviets left in
1989, Afghanistan has experienced many
internal conflicts over control of the
country, leading to infighting and civil
war. As a result of its fractured and
unstable history, Afghan culture and
identity has been inextricably linked with
the global powers influencing it. Such
identification has only stratified the
Afghan people and influenced their
heterogeneous demographics. This
complex internal identity combined with
this externally imbalanced one are both
reflected in The Kite Runner.
Afghanistan: Overview
• An ethnically diverse country.
• As of July 2007, there are approximately 32 million people
estimated to live in Afghanistan.
• Pashtu and Dari are considered the official languages of
Afghanistan and are spoken by 85% of the people.
• 30 other minor languages are also spoken in Afghanistan.
• About 99% of the population is Muslim, and of these
Muslims, 84% belong to the Sunni sect.
Afghanistan is a
landlocked country. It is
very dry and has
extremely warm summers
and very cold winters.
The mountains are
rugged, although there are
some plains used for
farming. Most of the
population work as
subsistence farmers, yet
the yield is very poor.
This contributes to the
poverty of certain
demographics of the
Afghan people.
A Land of Ethnic Diversity
• There has been a long history of an
ethnic hierarchy within Afghanistan.
It has created imbalances in wealth,
influence and education within its
society.
• Traditionally, the Pashtun ethnic
group has dominated the country
because they are the presumed
majority of the population.
• As a result, many of the other ethnic
groups have not had a strong voice
within the society, and bias and
prejudice have flourished.
Pashtuns:
• Majority ethnic
group at 42%
• Highest
ethnicity on the
social ladder
and dominate
governmental
bodies
• Pashtu is their
native
language
• Consist mainly
of Sunni
Muslims
Hazaras
• 9% of Afghanistan’s population
• Reside mainly in the central
Afghanistan mountain region called
‘Hazarajat’
• Historically, the Hazara seem to
have Mongolian origins.
• Most Hazara are Shi’ite Muslims.
The 1% which are not Muslim are
either Hindu, Sikh or Jewish.
• Hazaras are considered to be on the
lower end of the socio-economic
scale.
Tribalism
•Tribalism is the most important
traditional institution.
•Tribes provide a sense of solidarity,
security, and political power to their
members.
•For most ethnic groups, especially
Pashtuns, tribal identity and loyalty
precede national identity and national
consciousness.
A Complex History
• Historically, for Western powers, Afghanistan has been both a
crossroads and buffer state for Imperial abuse.
• As a landlocked country, Afghanistan is caught between many
neighboring states, making it:
 Crossroads on ancient trade routes: The Silk/Spice Road
 Buffer between major powers: Great Britain vs. Russia,
the United States vs. USSR
 A crucible for a varied people striving to establish and
maintain a homogenous identity
• These complex factors have led to a very distinct Afghan
identity that has had both a unifying and stratifying effect on the
Afghan people.
Afghan Disunity: The Great Game
• The Great Game was an intense rivalry between the British and
Russian Empires in Central Asia, beginning in the nineteenth
century and continuing through 1907. Britain sought influence or
control in much of Central Asia, to buffer the "crown jewel" of
its empire - British India.
• Tsarist Russia, meanwhile, sought to expand its territory and
sphere of influence, in order to create one of history's largest
land-based empires. The Russians would have been quite happy
to wrest control of India away from Britain, as well.
• Britain invaded Afghanistan because of its proximity to Russian
occupied territories. After fighting two Anglo-Afghan wars,
Afghanistan would become a British protectorate, eventually
gaining its independence from the UK in 1919 when Afghanistan
aligned itself with Communist Russia.
Afghan Disunity: Zahir Shah and the Modern Golden Age of Afghanistan
• After Afghanistan lost its status as a
British protectorate, Muhammad Zahir
Shah would rule Afghanistan for the
next forty years, from 1933-1973. He
would be the last king of Afghanistan.
• Zahir Shah’s rule, like the kings before
him, was one of almost total autocratic
power. The word of the king was the
word of law.
• Advisory councils and assemblies were
sometimes called to advise the king, but
these bodies had no power, and in no
way represented the people of
Afghanistan.
•
History books refer to this time of
Afghanistan’s history as one where attempts
were made to modernize the country;
however, under Shah’s rule political parties
were outlawed and many were shot and killed
when they protested the negligence of his
regime.
•
In 1973, the king was overthrown and a
republic was declared. But this in reality
represented very little, for the king had simply
been overthrown by a prominent member of
his own family, Daoud, who decided to title
himself president instead of king.
•
Under Daoud, a certain liberalization took
place, meaning that some of the most drastic
realities of the monarchy were rolled back, but
by and large whatever hopes and expectations
arose among the people – little was done to
satisfy them.
• Daoud had seized power with the help of an underground party named the
Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan – a pro- communist party. The PDPA
had aided and collaborated with Daoud in exchange for government posts.
Once he had consolidated power though and felt he no longer needed these
controversial allies, he cut ties with them and ordered a crack down upon the
party.
• In 1978 the PDPA seized power from Daoud in a military coup. After seizing
power they began a series of limited reforms, such as declaring, more or less, a
secular state, and that women were deserving of equal treatment of men. They
sought to curtail the practice of purchasing brides, and tried to implement a
land reform program. They quickly met with fierce opposition from many
sections of the deeply religious population though. The PDPA’s response to this
was very heavy-handed, aggravating the situation. Soon several rural areas rose
in open armed rebellion against the new government.
• Immediately following the PDPA coup, the Soviet Union took an active interest
in the so-called socialist revolution unfolding in its backyard. Dismayed by the
clumsiness of the radical faction of the PDPA, the Soviet Union invaded in
1979 to set up a puppet government in Afghanistan.
Afghan Disunity: A New Game & The Cold War
• The Soviet Union and United States became the dominant powers after World
War II.
• Both sought influence around the world, including Afghanistan, thus
Afghanistan regained its status as a pawn of superpowers.
•
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Afghan government needed to modernize its armed forces to:
Maintain internal security
Gain control of independent tribes
Strengthen central government to foster political and economic development
• When the U.S. government rejected Afghan request for arms, Afghans turned to
the Soviet Union.
• The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with 80,000 men in December, 1979, in
an attempt to impose control for its puppet Afghan government.
• After losing tens-of- thousands of soldiers, the defeated Soviets retreated in
1988. 1,000,000 Afghans lost their lives in the fight against the Soviet Union.
• Once inside Afghanistan, Soviets
found themselves forced to
commit more and more troops and
material to prop up the unpopular
PDPA government. Several
Islamic fundamentalist groups
sprang up and began waging
guerilla warfare, many of them
operating from camps set up by
Pakistani Intelligence within
Pakistan, from which they could
strike into Afghanistan, and then
beat a hasty retreat over a guarded
border.
• At that point the United States took an active interest in the Islamic
fundamentalists waging war on the PDPA and the Soviets. The CIA began
providing military training to the Mujahideen – the name the Islamic guerillas
came to be called. They provided what in the end amounted to billions of
dollars worth of weapons, including sophisticated anti-aircraft and anti-tank
missiles that allowed the guerillas to take out modern Soviet tanks and jet
planes.
Afghan Disunity: Mujahideen
• The Mujahideen would officially take over
Afghanistan control in 1992; however, radical
groups could not agree amongst themselves as to
who would take over power.
• As a result, civil war started amongst the Afghan
people and independently occupied zones were
established within the country, each with its own
warlord.
The Taliban
• Seeking to end the civil war which threatened the stability of their own country
– itself a prison house of many nationalities – Pakistani Intelligence aided in
the creation of a new Islamic fundamentalist movement, the Taliban.
• The Taliban was born in the Islamic schools that had sprung up inside the
Afghan refugee camps inside Pakistan, a direct result of political unrest in
Afghanistan at this time.
• Its leadership and the bulk of its initial ranks were made up of young religious
students, primarily Pashtuns, motivated by the zeal of religion and the belief
that they were ordained to bring stability and the ways of Allah back to their
war torn land.
• They railed against the corruption, greed and factionalism of the contending
Mujahideen factions inside Afghanistan, and when they mounted a military
push to conquer the country, they were initially well received by certain
sections of the weary population. Their ranks were filled by rank and file
Mujahadeen fighters and young idealists from inside the country, and city-bycity they were able to occupy most of the country.
• In 1996 they captured the capital city of Kabul, and had forced most of the
remaining warlords into a small pocket in the far north of the country.
• Once in power the Taliban sought to
create a theocratic state based on their
interpretations of the Koran.
• Though already severely repressed by
the various Mujahideen warlords, the
plight of Afghanistan’s women was
made even worse under the new
regime.
• The veil became the law of the land,
and women were forbidden from
attending school or holding
employment outside of the home.
Television was banned and an effort
was made to purge the country of any
signs or remnants of secular or Western
influence.
• The country became politically and
diplomatically isolated
Afghan History and The Kite Runner
• The novel is set in Afghanistan from the
late 1970s to 1981 and the start of the
Soviet occupation.
• It is also set in the Afghan community in
Fremont, California from the 1980s to
the early 2000s, and finally in
contemporary Afghanistan during the
Taliban regime.
 Baba grows up during the reign of
Zahir Shah, the “Golden Age”
 As young boys, Amir and Hassan
experience the overthrow of Shah
and the establishment of the
Afghan Republic under Daoud
Khan
 Baba and Amir leave Afghanistan
as refugees under the Soviet
occupation.