Taliban In The Kite Runner

“Door to door we went, calling for the men and the boys. We'd shoot them right there in front of their families. Let them see. Let them remember who they were, where they belonged. You don't know the meaning of the word 'liberating' until you've done that, stood in a roomful of targets, let the bullets fly, free of guilt and remorse, knowing you are virtuous, good, and decent. Knowing you're doing God's work. It's breathtaking!" (Hosseini 237). Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, took place in Afghanistan and the United States during the time period that the Taliban commanded Afghanistan. Although many Americans may perceive the Taliban as nothing more than a distant memory, the Taliban remain a constant threat in the Middle East and

The Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) in northwest Pakistan serves as a sanctuary for the Taliban (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 10). Although within Pakistan’s borders, the federal government does not exert actual control of the region, rather local Pashtun leaders govern the area and the region is believed to be home to many radical Islamic training camps and hideouts (Kurtzman 308). Moreover, the Pakistani ISI (think CIA of Pakistan), provides “logistics assistance” to the Taliban (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 10) and the CIA even believes that the ISI provided support to the Taliban in a 2008 bombing of an Indian embassy in Kabul (Feisal 172). Multiple agencies, such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies and U.S. General Accountability Office, have concluded that the ISI provides significant support for the Taliban (Feisel 172). With all this mind, the Pakistan government chooses to support the Taliban (although they will not directly admit it) because of their strained relationship with Kabul, self interest to spread radical Islam rather than Pashtun nationalism, and their rival, India, supports an anti-Pakistan government in control of Afghanistan (Feisal 173). By Pakistan empowering the Taliban, this creates the opportunity to have a pro-Pakistan government in Afghanistan if the Taliban were able to control the country once again (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 9). By spreading radical Islam, Pakistan is diverting Pashtuns attention from their ethnic culture to the religion of Islam; they do this because empowered Pashtuns might want to form a “Pashtunistan” which would require Pakistan to give up some of its land to a new nation (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 9). Furthermore, Pakistan is rivals with India which wants an anti-Pakistani government in Kabul and Pakistan has tried to empower the Taliban in order to prevent