The Kite Runner and Afghanistan

Several years ago, like many of my friends and family members, I read Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, a painful story that takes place in Afghanistan. For the past two weeks, Afghanistan has filled our news feed with tragic stories of people whose lives have been upended by the cold calculations of a foreign power.

  This morning I’ve been reading reviews of Hosseini’s book, including some harsh critiques on both the prose and manipulative plot twists. The majority of reviews, however, paint a portrait of a sad, poignant tale, making the book a classic. I tend toward the later interpretations, as the feel of the story has stayed with me for all these years.

Regardless of how one thinks about the book, The Kite Runner seems very relevant at this point in time. For thirty out of the last forty years, Afghanistan has been occupied by foreign powers.

The backdrop for The Kite Runner was the Russian occupation of the country during the 1980s. When the Russians tired of the cost needed to subjugate the country, they cut their losses and left, opening the door for the Taliban to impose their repressive ideology on the Afghans. In the wake of the 9/11terrorist attacks, the United States swept the Taliban from power, and tried to fashion a pro-American government in an attempt to create a reliable Middle Eastern ally. The policy hasn’t worked and, given the many lessons of history, never had much chance for success from the start.

  Throughout the past forty years, the Afghan people have been pawns in a chess game between world powers, and currently we are seeing some of the distressing consequences of these power struggles. Even now, we see American politicians and political commentators using the tragedy of Afghanistan for their own political agendas. Soon, however, another event will eclipse the stories about this troubled country, and we as a country will move on. Unfortunately, the people in Afghanistan will not have this luxury.

I would caution anyone who wants to cast quick and easy blame for the unfolding tragedy to take a deep breath. The responsibility for today’s heartbreak goes back decades and fits a long-standing myth about exceptionalism of American society. After all, this is hardly the first time the United States has left another sovereign nation in ruins in pursuit of its own selfish interests. If we, as Americans, wish to assign blame for this debacle, we should first look in the mirror.