Representation of Afghan History and Conflict in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner

Abstract

Literature has become a tool for representing history and contributes to the formation of historical moments. It reveals the processes and tensions by which historical changes come about. Afghanistan as a nation in South Asia has gone through with several wars, invasions, and has suffered continuous and brutal civil war since the late 1970’s. The most disastrous period in the history of Afghanistan was Russian and American Invasion which was also allied by the civil wars and the rise of Taliban to power. Afghanistan consists of many ethnic groups but Pashtuns and Tajiks are in majority. Because of the diverse ethnic population, there have been many conflicts, disorders, and clashes between various groups on several occasions. The country has witnessed some bloody encounters between Pashtuns and Hazaras. The paper is an attempt to trace the history of conflict in Afghanistan by revisiting major events that have happened in the history of Afghanistan but it will also deal with conflict that has ravaged a country like Afghanistan with reference to Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.