The Kite Runner takes place in Afghanistan, where conflict between the Sunni-Muslim Pashtun’s and the Shiite Hazara’s is very heavy. But this rivalry is not against only the Shiite Hazara’s, but it includes all kinds of the Hazara people, including minorities of Sunni Hazara and Ismaili Shia Hazara. In 1747 when Afghanistan was originally founded, Pashtun had the vast majority of the state. It wasn’t until the Hazaras immigrated to Kabul in the second half of the twentieth century, that their religious, ideological, economic, geographic, and linguistic characteristics were threatened.
The idea of their culture being over ruled, forced the Pashtun to hate the Hazara and attempt to hinder their ways. The way the Pashtun saw the Hazara was the same way the Hazara had seen the Pashtun; wrong. If at first two people collide because of religious differences, chances are they will never get along. How can one expect others to accept their religion and way of life, when they cannot accept that of others?
Being born and brought up learning a certain religion, the mind is not open to other cultures because they are given the idea that basically, what they know is “correct” and “acceptable”, while anyone who goes against it is supposedly “wrong. ” Cultural difference is heavily focused on between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras. Throughout the novel the main character Amir is somewhat embarrassed to admit Hassan, his best friend, was a Hazara in fear of judgement. Pashtuns and Hazara have heavy conflict and the issues date back centuries before Amir and Hassan’s time.
The Report on Kite Runner 6
... birth to a strong hatred between the Pashtuns and Hazaras. Pashtun’s killed the Hazaras, drove them from their lands, burnt their homes, ... sold their women and made them slaves as Pashtuns ... a relationship with him. The ethnic difference of the Pashtuns and Hazaras is central to the ethnic divide and conflict ...
Pashtuns are Sunni Muslim and caucasian, while the Hazaras are Shiite Muslim and mainly asiastic, looking mongolian or chinese. The two are very easily distinguished because of the large difference simply by their appearance. It is hard to accept one another because of the many differences they have, and being raised to believe that another religion that conflicted with yours, was wrong. However, Amir was raised by Baba, an open-minded man accepting of the Hazara religion. One of Baba’s closest friends Ali, is the father of Hassan, is Hazara.
Hazaras are often considered outsiders by other Afghans: Shiite Muslims in a mostly Sunni Muslim nation. The “others” or the “strangers” in the Kite Runner are the native Hazara’s and Pashtu. The natives are being shoved out and dehumanized by the Taliban and the Russians. Taliban and Russians are attacking the natives from every angle; from attacks induced by religious differences to attacks that are simply economical and/or for the power. The reason for russians invading Afghanistan, was because the Soviet Union wanted better access to the Indian Ocean for trade and their naval fleet.
Control of Afghanistan would make trade with India and the Middle East easier. Afghanistan has important natural resources such as natural gas, uranium, iron ore and copper; all which the Soviets wanted. These russians saw themselves as superior to the Afghans because they were the ones with the weapons. For example, in the Kite Runner, Baba and Amir are riding a truck to Jalalabad when a russian there on the truck requests “30 minutes” with one of the Hazara women also on the ride.
If it weren’t for Baba speaking out against such a disrespectful request, this woman would have no choice but to submit to him and follow the russians orders. Throughout the novel, punishments are given to the natives by the over-ruling Taliban. These cruel and unusual punishments make me feel upset and give me no choice but to stand against the “Beard Patrol. ” In chapter 21, the book explains one of the Talib’s “games” at the soccer match (p 271), “The Talib, looking absurdly like a baseball pitcher on the mound, hurled the stone at the blind folded man in the hole. The man not knowing when he will be struck with the stone represents weakness to the Talib. How submissive this man is forced to be, actually excites and empowers the Talib. For a man to have fun, killing another man really disgusts me and in no way could I see a good side to the Talibs. Colonial opression is explicitly shown throughout the Kite Runner. It is easy to notice the troubled times that Afghanistan is going through.
The Essay on How The Taliban Changed Afghanistan
Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, follows the life of a young boy living in Afghanistan; a very different Afghanistan than the one we know today. Through his eyes we see the country he loves, his home, torn apart by a war with the Soviet Union, then a civil war, before finally being taken over by an extremely strict religious group called the Taliban. This series of horrible events ...
The Taliban are slowly but surely turning Afghanistan into exactly what they want; soon enough all the Hazaras will be killed off, and the Taliban will have control. They’ve already banned kite running due to kites being “un-Islamic” on all levels. This clearly shows an example of how the Taliban is forcing their culture and practices onto the natives. Because of the colonial opression, Afghans seek the freedom elsewhere, such as America. If the Talibans found out a Pashtun or Hazara planned to move to America, they would find it disrespectful to Afghanistan and exterminate them.
