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The kite runner starts with a flashback. As the author narrates, “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.” (1) .
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In 1976, Amir is shown to have turned 13. As the author states,“I turned thirteen that summer of 1976, Afghanistan’s next to last summer of peace and anonymity.” (93).
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As the New York Times article states, "Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, has known little peace since the Societ Union invaded."
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As the New York Times article states, "The first Soviet troops parachuted into Kabul on Dec 27,1979, to assist Babrak Karmal, who had become president in a coup within the Afghan Communist Leadership".
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Baba and Amir are now living in Fremont, California. It is evident when Amir states, “For two years, I tried to get Baba to enroll in ESL classes to improve his broken English. But he scoffed at the idea.” (126).
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In 1981, Baba and Amir escape Kabul, Afghanistan. They left to Jalalabad, which is about 170km southeast of Kabul. From there they would be taken to Peshawar, Pakistan.
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In 1983, Amir graduates high school at 20. As he quotes, “That summer of 1983, I graduated from high school at the age of twenty, by far the oldest senior tossing his mortarboard on the football field that day.” (131).
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In the Summer of 1984, Amir finally turns 21 years old. For his birthday, Baba sold his "..Buick and bought a dilapidated ’71 Volkswagen bus for $550 from an old Afghan acquaintance who’d been a high-school science teacher in Kabul.” (137)
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Amir talks and goes up to Soraya for the first time without her father present at the flea market. Soraya and Amir proceed to small talk about Amir and his writings.
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After Baba goes to the doctor, he finds out that he has cancer. There is no cure for his cancer but the doctor suggests that Baba could always do chemotherapy but he refuses because it will not cure him.
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Amir asks Baba to ask Soraya's father if he could marry his daughter, Soraya. After he says yes, Baba tells Amir that Soraya would like to speak to him. She tells him of her past but it does not change they way Amir feels toward her.
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Amir finishes his first book. The excitement comes 6 weeks later when Amir gets a phone call from a publisher.
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It is at this time that Amir really feels good about his life. This is evidents when Amir says, "There was so much goodness in my life. So much happiness. I wondered whether I deserved any of it." (183) .
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Although the Soviets caused a lot of conflict throughout those 10 years they "left Afghanistan in February 1989, in what was in effect a unilateral withdrawl".
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Soraya and Amir are trying to have a baby. They began trying to concieve since 1989 but by 1991 they were unsucessful.
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After the Soviets left Afghanistan, Afghanistan "descended into vicious internecine strife; by the summer of 1994, power was anarchically divided among competing war lords and individual fiefdoms".
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Towards the end of 1994, Mullah Omar winds up with "12,000 followers and was rolling up the warlords to north and east. With his promise of restorig the centralit of Islam to daily life, he created a genuinely popular movement in a country wearing of corruption and brutality."
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As the article states, "Bouyed by Pakistani aid, the taliban by 1996 had taken conrol of Afghanistan , imposing strict enforcement of fundamentalist Islamic law..."
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2 years later, in 1998, the Taliban massacred the hazaras in Mazar-y-sharif.
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Amir gets a phone call from Rahim Khan. Rahim Khan wants Amir to go to Pakistan.
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Hassan, in his letter, begins to tell Amir that he hopes to see him again someday. As the narrator states, "And I dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land our childhood. If you do, you will find an old faithful friend waiting for you" (218). In these lines, Amir finds that Hassan has not forgotten Amir.
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As the article states,'Afte the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, President Geroge W. Bush gave the Taliban an ulimatum to hand over Bin Laden".
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As the New York Times article states, 'In December 2001, Hamid Karzai, a supporter and relative of Mohammad Zahir Shah, the exiled former king of Afghanistan, was named chairman of the interim government that replaced the Taliban"
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Even though they were defeated in 2001, "the taliban continued to wage a guerilla warfare from a base in the [...] Pakistan- Afghanistan border".
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As the article states, "Mr. Obama announced his plan to deployed 30,000 additonal troops".