THE KITE RUNNER Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 1

THE KITE RUNNER
AFGHANISTAN
Afghan fi ghters on a downed helicopter
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY
Following the assassination of the
president in 1978, the socialist
state of the Democratic Republic
of Afghanistan was declared by the
PDPA (People’s Democratic Party
of Afghanistan). They instituted
many political and social reforms
in Afghanistan, including abolishing
religious and traditional customs.
These reforms incensed groups of
Afghans who believed in adherence
to traditional and religious laws.
These factions began to challenge the
government so rigorously that in 1979,
the Soviet Army entered Afghanistan
to assist the socialist government, beginning an
occupation that would last a decade. This time
is the historical point in The Kite Runner when
Baba and Amir leave Afghanistan. Throughout
the ten years of Soviet occupation, internal
Muslim forces put up a resistance. Farid and his
father are examples in The Kite Runner of these
Mujahideens, or men engaged in war on the
side of Islam. The United States was among the
countries that supported the resistance, because
Total Area:
250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km)
Population (2008 est.):
32,738,376 (growth rate: 2.6%); birth rate: 45.8/1000;
infant mortality rate: 154.6/1000; life expectancy: 44.2;
density per sq mi: 128
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Kabul, 2,206,300
Other large cities:
Kandahar, 349,300; Mazar-i-Sharif, 246,900; Charikar,
202,600; Herat, 171,500
AFGHANISTAN
Monetary unit:
Afghani
Languages:
Dari Persian, Pashtu (both offi cial), other Turkic
and minor languages
Ethnicity/race:
Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%,
Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%
Religion:
Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1%
National Holiday: Independence Day, August 19
Literacy rate: 28.1% (2000 est.)
Soviet troops withdrawing from Afghanistan
of its own anti-Soviet policies. When the Soviet
Troops finally withdrew in 1989, Afghanistan
remained under the PDPA for three more years. Then in 1992, in the wake of the collapse
of the Soviet Union and therefore Soviet support for the government, the mujahideen finally
won Afghanistan and converted it to an Islamic State.
Then in 1996, the Taliban took control of Kabul. After so many years of insecurity and
violence, the people welcomed the takeover. In the years following Soviet withdrawal,
there was a great deal of infighting among rival militias, making everyday life in
Afghanistan unsafe. The Taliban were a group of ethnic Pashtun supremacists who
banded together and took almost complete control of the country. Despite their warm
Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 9