Kite Runner & the History of Afghanistan

The Soviet Invasion

Dec 27, 1979

The Soviet Invasion was a series of violent actions, starting when the,"[T]he first Soviet troops parachuted into Kabul on Dec. 27, 1979... But most Western analyst say the Soviets engineered the coup as a pretext to replace the Hafizullah Amin, the Afghan leader, who had lost their trust." (NYT)

Last Soviet Troops left Afghanistan

Feb 18, 1989

While a lot of war and violence happened during the Soviet Invasion,"[E]ventually, the peace talks moderated by the United Nations, the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989..." (NYT)

Power was divided

Jul 18, 1994

As more went on after the Soviets left, Afghanistan had ended up in a vicious strife, and by,"[S]ummer of 1994, power was anarchically divided among competing warlords and individual fiefdoms..." (NYT)

Taliban took control over Afghanistan

Oct 18, 1996

As time passed with Islam becoming more popular and the competition of power, later,"[T]hTaliban by 1996 had taken control of Afghanistan..."

9/11

Sep 11, 2001

Thanks to the invasion of the Taliban (?), an,"[A]ttack on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.."

Taliban had been defeated yet still fought back

Oct 18, 2001

Despite all the actions against the Taliban, they,"[c]ontinued to wage guerilla warfare from a base....." (NYT)

Hamid Karzai, the new chairman

Dec 9, 2001

Months after the attack, and after his relative had been exiled, on,"[D]ecember 2001, Hamid Karzai, a supporter and relative of Mohammad Zahir Shah, the exiled former king of Afghanistan, was named chairman of an intern government." (NYT)

New Commander

Oct 18, 2008

Later with Obama being more heavily involved,"[G]eneral Petraeus, the Iraq commander who received much of the credit for the success of the surge there, had taken charge of United States Central Commander in October 2008." (NYT)

Obama's important speech

Dec 1, 2009

Since Obama had started to take this entire situation seriously, he delivered a speech on,"[D]ec. 1, 2009, at West Point, Mr. Obama announced his plan to deploy 30,000 additional troops...." (NYT)

Obama's promise of forces

Oct 18, 2014

Since Obama wanted to get a move on things, he previously said that he would deploy 30,000 troops although it'd take time... Then,"[T]he Obama administration changed its tone to increasingly emphasize the idea that the United States will have forces in their country until at least the end of 2014." (NYT)