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KR: Amir and Hassan participate in winter kite contest and win
Amir and Hassan were anticipating for the annual kite race, especially Amir. It was important for Amir to win 1st place so he can please Baba. He wanted to bring the winning kite home to show, "once and for all that his son was worthy."(Hosseini 56) When Amir & Hassan won the race, it made Baba very proud and that was when he finally- for a very short time- Amir had gotten affection from Baba. -
KR: Amir and Hassan get bullied by Assef. But Hassan saves Amir with a slingshot.
Amir and Hassan were just walking back home when they get interrupted by Assef and his gang of boys. Assef wanted to hurt Amir for being friends with Hassan but with a blink of an eye,"[Amir] turned and came face to face with Hassan's slingshot. Hassan pulled a wide elastic band all the way back." (Hosseini 41-42) Hassan was and will always be loyal to Amir. Perhaps, Assef was jealous of their friendship. -
KR: Hassan gets rapped by Assef
Assef despised Hassan because he was a Hazara, "Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, the pure Afhgans, not this flat-nose here. His people pollute our homeland. They dirty blood." (Hosseini 40). He also hated Hassan because he was a loyal friend, "Loyal as a dog"(Hosseini 72) to Amir. -
Soviet Union invades
It has been 3 decades since the Russian troups declared land in Afghanistan. The, "first Soviet troops parachuted in Kabul on Dec. 27, 1979, to assist Barack Kamal, who had become president in coup within the ACL." (Timeline Article) -
KR: Russians invade Afganistan, Baba and Amir leave the country
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the country crumbled, Baba took a descition to leave his home land. "The earth shook a little and [they] heard the rat-tat-tat of the gunfire." (Hosseini 35) Possibly one can make the analogy that Afghanistan was raped just like Hassan. -
KR: Baba and Amir move to Fremont
Baba and Amir move to Fremont, CA in 1980. Starting a new life in a different county with completely different culture is hard and challenging; yet Baba never looses his values and principles. Despite Baba working 12 hour shifts at a gas station to make ends meet, he refused to use, "those humiliating food stamps." (Hosseini 131). -
KR: Amir falls in love with Soraya
Amir has always had feelings for Soraya. She was his "morning sun to his yelda." (Hosseini 144) So when they 1st met at the flea market, Amir knew that she was the one he wanted to wake up next to every morning. Being respectful to his tradition, he asked Baba to formally ask for Soraya's hand in marriage. Clearly Amir loves Soraya so much, that he shows it through respectfully following the tradition. -
KR: Baba is diagnosed with cancer
Close to the wedding, Baba gets diagnosed with cancer. "For a while, even cancer couldn't keep Baba from the flea market." (Hosseini 157) Even though he was sick for the longest time, he still maintained dignity and his typical character strength- he didn't want pity from anybody or help. He wants to show that he can carry on with life like nothing happened. -
Last troops leave Afghanistan
The last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan also leaving behind massive destruction. Their withdrawal, "was in a effect unilateral retreat." (Timeline Article) -
Division of fiefdoms
After the Russians departed, "Afghanistan decended into vicious intercine strife; by the summer of 1994, power was anarchically divided among competing warlords and individual fiefdoms." (Timeline Article) -
Mullah Omar's group increased
By the end of 1994, Omar's group has grown and double it size to almost, "12,000 warlords to the north and east." (Timeline Article) -
Government starts to donate money to Mullah's group
By the end of the year 1994, Pakistani officers fund, "arms, money, and supplies to Mullah's men, ... to help guide them in battle." (Timeline Article) -
Mullah Omar's first attack
Their first action- shooting- took place in Pushtun with the leader, "Mullah Omar, a Pushtun who lost his eye fighting the Soviets, gathered a small band of men and attacked a group of warlords who had raped a girl and shaved her hair off." (Timeline Article) -
Taliban seize control of Kabul and introduce hard-line version of Islam
Banning women from work, and introducing Islamic punishments, which include stoning to death and amputations. -
KR: Amir gets a call from Rahim Khan
One day, Amir received a call from Rahim Khan, saying that he was sick and had to tell him something in person,"Come. There is a way to be good again, Rahim Khan said through the phone."(Hosseini 193) Amir knew that there was a slight chance that he can atone for his wrong doing. Amir has been carrying the guilt for leaving Hassan alone since his childhood. So he takes this opportunity to go help them out and to take off the burden. -
KR: Amir learns that Hassan was his half-brother
Seeing Rahim Kahn again brought back memories to Amir. "'No, they didn't,' Rahim Kahn said. 'Yes they did!' 'No they didn't, Amir' 'Then who-' 'I think you know who.'"(Hosseini 222) Now Amir understands why Baba was caring for Hassan. He would never miss his birthday and he wouldn't let them leave. -
KR: Amir sets off to find Sohrab
Learning that Hassan was gone but," a little part of him still lived on. In Kabul. Waiting." (Hosseini 227) Made Amir realize that Sohrab was he way of burdening the weight of guilt. His journey of finding the little boy was another way of redeeming himself. -
KR: Amir fights Assef
As Amir finds Sohrab in an orphanage, where he encounters Assef. Assef knows that Amir is vulnerable and would do anything to get Sohrab. So he wanted to finish what he started, Assef wants to humiliate and hurt him. Instead of fighting back; Amir was laughing, "the harder I laughed, the harder he kicked me, punched me..."(Hosseini 289) Amir is laughing because he deserves it for not helping Hassan in the winter of 1975. No matter how hard Assef tried, he would never get to his feelings. -
KR: Hassan runs away from Amir to a Mosque
After a safe runaway from Assef. Amir and Sohrab had taken a taxi to Peshawer late at night seeking for a nice hotel room. As soon as Amir went to sleep, Sohrab snuck out to look at Mosque to remember how Hassan, his "father [who] took me to the Blue Mosque." (Hosseini 317) Sohrab misses his parents and tells Amir - who had luckily found him- how he wants everything to go back to normal; to when he and Sasa would play in the yard in Baba's house. So Amir asks him to come to the U.S. with him. -
KR: Sohrab does not want to go to America
At the Mosque, Amir asked Sohrab if he wanted to go with him back to the U.S. but Sohrab only cries in his shirt. None of them spoke about the proposal for a week until one night, Amir asks him what he thinks. Sohrab isn't comfortable, "[i]t scares [him]" (Hosseini 324) and he also fears if Amir and his wife will get tired of him an put him in an orphanage. But Amir makes a promise that they won't get tired of him, nor he will ever go to an orphanage again. -
KR: Amir tries to adopt Sohrab
Ever since Amir promised Sohrab that he will never be back in an orphanage, Amir fabricated an idea to adopt him so he can go to America. It makes it ten times harder for the adoption process for them because of no documents, "[t]his is Afghanistan we're talking about. Most people there don't even have birth certificates."(Hosseini 330). Amir explains how he doesn't have death sertificates for Sohrab's parents. -
KR: Sohrab attempts to kill himself
As Amir and Sohrab were a the mosque, Sohrab tells Amir that he is tired of everything. He wanted everything to go back to normal when they lived in Baba's house and Sasa would play in the yard with him.
"'I don't want to go back to another orphanage,'he said. 'I won't let that ever happen. I promise you.'"( Hosseini 325) The kid rather die, than go trough the misery again. Perhaps, Sohrab didn't believe Amir when he promised the promise. -
The attack of the twin towers on Sept. 11
This horrific event that struck everyone in the world help picture how bad people in Afghanistan are living. The , "group had been given safe haven in the country by the Talabian, an extremest Islamic group that had seized control in 1996 after years of civil war." (Timeline Article). -
KR: Hassan and Amir arrive to San Francisco
After Sohrab's recovery, both men got on a plane and to America they went. When Soraya picked them up from SFO, she noticed that Hassan was still pale and was very quiete. But as the weeks turned into months, "the silence sucked everything in like a black hole."( Hosseini 363) Amir and Soraya always wanted a kid, but having Sohrab was not what they expected. They would send emails to their relatives to tell them that "bringing Sohrab here had been the right thing to do." (Hosseini 363). -
Period: to
Hamid Kazai is king of Afghanistan
He is a loyal supporter and family member of Muhammad Shah who was the, "exiled former king of Afghanistan." (Timeline Article) He was not allowed to rule anymore because of the Talibans. After the Talibans 'ran into secret caves', the citizens choose Hamid Kazai to rule Afghanistan as a president -
President Barack Obama's project of stationing troops to Afghanistan
In December 1, 2009, Obama delivered a speech announcing, "his plan to deploy 30,000 additional troops." (Timeline Article) He also guarantee that all forces will be back by 2011