Kite Runner & the History of Afghanistan

  • Baba is Born

    Baba, the ​father of Amir and Hassan, was born "in 1933" (24).
  • Death of Sofia Arkami

    As Sofia Arkami was giving birth to Amir, she died. Baba blames Amir for "kill[ing] his beloved wife" (19).
  • Hassan's Rape

    Hassan gets raped by Assef, Wali, and Kamal in the winter because he didn't give the "blue kite" (72) to them. Doing this, he proves his loyalty to Amir.
  • The Fixing of Hassan's Lip

    For Hassan's birthday, Baba gave him the gift of getting his lip fixed. Baba took him to a doctor and the surgery went well. After fixing it, "it was just a pink jagged line running up from his lip" (47).
  • Amir's Birthday

    For Amir's thirteenth birthday, Baba invited more than 400 people and Amir didn't "recogniz[e] at least three-quarters" (94) of the list. Assef came to the party and impressed Baba by talking about soccer with him. For his present to Amir, he gave him a biography of Hitler.
  • Hassan and Ali Leave

    Hassan and Ali quit and "leav[e]" (106) in the summer after Hassan comes clean about his rape to Ali and Baba accuses Hassan of stealing.
  • Period: to

    The Soviet Invasion

    The Soviet Union invaded Afganistan to try to replace Hafizullah Amin (the Afghan leader) because he had lost their trust.
  • Soviet Union Take Over Afghanistan

    Russian soldiers walked around the towns, there was a ​curfew, there were tanks that drove on streets, and much more.
  • Baba and Amir Move to America

    After the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, Baba and Amir decide to move to America. In order to get there, they had to ride in "a fuel truck" (121) which was pitch black and hard to breathe in.
  • Amir's Graduation

    During the summer, Amir "graduaded from high school at the age of twenty" (131) and for his graduation present, Baba got him a car.
  • Amir Meets Soroya

    While Amir was at the flea market, he saw a woman named Soraya that "made an impression on [him]" (141) which would soon be his wife.
  • Baba Gets Cancer

    Baba starts off getting a cold but suddenly gets a lot sicker so Amir takes him to the doctor. A few weeks later, he was diagnosed with "Oat Cell Carcinoma" (156), a kind of cancer. He was offered chemotherapy, but Baba declined.
  • Amir and Soraya's Wedding

    Baba asked General Taheri for Soraya's hand in marriage and he accepted. Because Baba was sick, Amir and Soraya had to plan the wedding very fast. After the wedding, Amir "whispered to her for the first time that [he] loved her" (171).
  • Baba Dies

    Not long after the wedding, Baba passes away and "mourners paid their respects" (175).
  • Soraya Cannot Have Kids

    Amir and Soraya try to have children but Soraya never gets pregnant so they go to the doctor. Amir "passed with flying colors" (185), but Soraya was unfertile.
  • Rahim Khan Finds Hassan

    Rahim Kahn had been taking care of Baba and Hassan's house but because he was getting sick, he "fueled up the Buick and drove up to Hazarajat" (204) because that is where Hassan lived. Rahim Kahn met Hassan's wife, Farzana and took both of them back to the house to live in and clean.
  • Farzana Gives Birth to First Child

    In the fall, "Farzana gave birth to a stillborn baby girl" (209). They buried her by the sweetbrier bushes and in 1990, she became pregnant again.
  • Sanaubar Shows Up

    In the summer, Sanaubar showed up with a "toothless mouth with stringy graying hair and sores on her arms... [and] someone had taken a knife to [her face]" (209).
  • Farzana Gives Birth to Sohrab

    In the winter, Farzana gave birth to a baby boy and "named him Sohrab, after Hassan's favorite hero from the Shahnamah" (211).
  • Hassan and Farzana Die

    Rahim Kahn left to go to Peshawar, and while he was gone, the Taliban "accused [Hassan] of lying when Hassan told them he was living with [Rahim Kahn]" (218). Since they thought he was lying, they shot Hassan and Farzana.
  • Sohrab Goes to an Orphanage

    Because both of his parents died, Sohrab was sent to "an orphanage" (220).
  • The Taliban Move into Baba's House

    After murdering Hassan and Farzana​, the Taliban moved into the house and "the pretext was that they had evicted a trespasser" (219).
  • Pakistani Intelligence Assist the Taliban

    Pakistani officers start providing the Taliban with arms, money, and supplies.
  • Osama Bin Laden

    Bin Ladden arrives in Afganistan
  • Taliban Takeover

    The Taliban seize control of the country and start to enforce strict laws.
  • Taliban take control of Kabul

    When the Taliban came to Kabul, everyone thought it would be a good thing, but "in 1998, they massacred the Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif" (213).
  • Amir Learns That Rahim Kahn is Sick

    When Amir travels to see Rahim Kahn, he asks Rahim Kahn "how long?" (201) he has to live and Rahim responded by saying that he probably won't make it through the summer.
  • Amir Meets the Leader of the Taliban

    Amir goes to the leader of the Taliban in search of Sohrab and it turns out that the leader of the Taliban was "Assef" (281). They later got into a fight over Sohrab leaving Amir severely​ injured and Assef without an eye. During the fight, Sohrab threw a metal ball into Assef's eye and it got stuck in the socket so that Amir and Sohrab could leave.
  • Taliban and 9/11 Attacks

    After 9/11 attacks, US troops join their forces​ with rebels to drive the Taliban out of the major cities.
  • Rahim Khan Calls Amir

    Amir gets a phone call from Rahim Kahn telling Amir that he "is very sick" (191), so Amir travels to Pakistan.
  • Amir Finds out Hassan is His Brother

    Rahim Kahn tells Amir that Ali was not Hassan's biological father because "Ali was sterile" (222) so he couldn't have children. It was then obvious that Baba was both Hassan and Amir's father because of everything that he did for Hassan.
  • Public Stoning

    Amir goes to a soccer game to find the leader of the Taliban and during the halftime show, there was a public stoning for people who committed "adulter[y]" (270).
  • Amir Asks Sohrab To Move to America

    While they are sitting at the mosque, Amir asked Sohrab, "Would you like to come live in America with me and my wife?" (320), but Sohrab didn't answer for the next few weeks.
  • Sohrab Attempts Suicide

    Earlier, Amir had promised Sohrab that he would never send him back to an orphanage but he had to break that promise. Soon after breaking the news, Soraya called Amir and told him that they could, in fact, adopt Sohrab so Amir went to break the good news. As Amir opened the bathroom door, he started "screaming until [he] thought [his] throat would rip out of [his] chest and explode" (343) because Sohrab had slit his wrists open and was laying in the bathtub, unconscious​.
  • Sohrab Stops Speaking

    Sohrab is extremely depressed and misses his old life, and after the suicide attempt, he spoke very few words, but it would be "almost a year would pass before [he] would hear Sohrab speak another word" (356).
  • Amir and Sohrab arrive in San Francisco

    ch 25
  • Attacks on Twin Towers

    Al Qaeda led an invasion from Afghanistan which caused planes to crash into the Twin Towers.
  • Sohrab Smiles

    Since Sohrab hasn't said anything in almost a year, so when "one corner of his mouth had curled up" (370), it was a big deal
  • Hamid Karzai

    President of Afganistan for 5 years
  • General Petraeus

    In October, General Petraeus is put in charge of military operations​ in Afganistan and other countries in that area.
  • Deploy Plan

    U.S President, Barak Obama, announces to deploy 30,000 troops to Afganistan.
  • Returning Home

    The year when Obama's troops would return home from Afganistan.