Since the Afghan diaspora first discovered it, Khalid Hosseini's landmark debut novel The Kite Runner has managed to be one of the most loved and loathed pieces of cultural art ever. Everyone had their opinions on the novel and its companion film -- was it good for Afghans or just "lifting your skirt over your head" as Afghans would say?

Now, the same questions are being asked of Hosseini's second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. Having recently read it in its entirety in a single 24-hour period I can say that A Thousand Splendid Suns is indeed good for Afghans, and more importantly for Americans wanting to understand historical and political situation that created the current state of affairs in Afghanistan.

Shortly after the events of 9/11 Afghanistan, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Osama Bin Laden dominated the news, as if they all naturally went together and the Afghans had control or even a true engagement with the post cold war politics of Afghanistan.

In the novel the reader sees that even in the capital city of Kabul, the people of Afghanistan were just as confused about the situation of their country and the domain of the different war lords (armed, trained and financed by the CIA in hopes of defeating the USSR and making sure the Soviets did not have an easy route to India, Pakistan, China, and Iran) as the outside world was. Even the highly educated and culturally engaged family of main character Laila have very little understanding of exactly who controlled which part of the country and at what time. All they knew was that bombs were exploding overhead and their babies were born in air raids. 

Laila, or "Inqilabi [revolutionary] girl," as her much mocked teacher calls her was born on the night of Najibullah's Soviet backed take over of Afghanistan, an event whose nature is highly contested among Afghans to this day. My family and Laila's family referred to it as coup d'etat, a bloodless one but a coup nonetheless, whereas Laila's Socialist teacher refuses to use the term "coup" and instead refers to it as an inqilab or a revolution. Laila's teacher’s refusal to cover herself, an act attributed to her Socialist ideals provides a great social context for the post cold war stringent enforcement of hijabs and burqas for women. Before the occupation and during it, many of the women of Afghanistan did not cover themselves from head to toe and even when they did they still went to University and worked as Professors, lawyers, doctors and within the government but after the Soviet ouster that began to change as all women were forced to cover from head to toe and to eventually end their studies and quit their jobs.

Why is Laila's teacher's refusal for her or her students to cover so important to Afghan history and politics? Because during the Soviet occupation women were told to uncover, go to discos, drink alcohol,  and to cross the lines of other societal and religious taboos. Many Sociologists and Anthropologists refer to this time period as being the catalyst for the stricter post Cold War edicts on the modesty of women in Afghanistan. Many of the future Taliban leaders and warlords were born in or growing up around this time and could not see the once prominent female members of society and only associated the uncovering, education, and employment of women with Godless Socialist ideals. They could not imagine an Islamic Afghanistan where such things were possible. 

In Laila and Tariq's families the reader also sees that not all family and marital relations were like that of Rasheed and Mariam or even Mariam's mother and Jalil Khan. They see that despite the quarrels and disagreements that plague all relationships not all marriages in Afghanistan were abusive, domineering, shaming, and controlling.

The daily struggles of Laila, Mariam, Rasheed, Tariq, Aziza, Zalmai, and the other characters of the novel show the reader sees that even in the capital city of Kabul the people of Afghanistan were so desperate to survive that they had little to no understanding of the government of Afghanistan much less the will or choice to elect the leaders of the nation. They were completely detached from the situation. They had heard rumors that the Taliban would bring order and civility to Afghanistan but quickly began to see those hopes fade as archaic interpretations of Islamic law were enforced throughout the country. They had no idea that the Taliban, trained and educated in Pakistan were harboring Bin Laden instead we see people trying to invent new ways to maneuver enough around the Taliban's control and fear tactics to survive. There are no welcome mats for Bin Laden or chants for the death of America, rather a people trying to survive the constant blows of over 20 years of war masterminded in large part by foreign bodies. 

The novel contains a few references to the U.S.'s role in creating the current situation in Afghanistan. In fear of easier access to India, Pakistan, China, Iran and the rest of Asia for the USSR the CIA supplied the mujhaideen fighters with weapons and training in order to oust the USSR and help orchestrate the fall of an empire. As the book states, once the deed was done and the Soviet Union collapsed both America and Russia lost interest in Afghanistan and its fate was put in the hands of warlords, the opportunists of neighboring countries, and an easily coerced younger population who had known nothing but war and destruction their entire lives.  

Even when the United States does return in 2001 to oust the Taliban and "bring democray" to Afghanistan characters in the novel express the sentiments of Afghans around the world. Afghans who were weary of the U.S.'s renewed support of warlords they had trained and armed 20 years ago to oust another oppressive regime. They could not understand why their "liberators" were re-allying with the people who had constantly attacked, pillaged and destroyed Afghanistan for over 20 years? As they saw aid money was not coming with the amount or quickness they were promised and that the Karzai government was unable to bring stability and peace to the nation the characters begin to wonder if the same patterns are not repeating?

The novel's depiction of Ahmad Shah Massoud also works to complicate the image of the valiant knight battling the evil villian whose thoughts and actions seem to be from another time created by the Western media. Though, Laila's mother Fireba honors Massoud and truly considers him to be the "Lion of Panshir," other characters consider him to be an opportunist and tyrannical warlord with no mercy. Even upon his assassination, characters are conflicted as to how to feel about the violent death of someone as loved and loathed as he was. 

The analysis of the thoughts, words, situations, and ideas of the novel's characters show that no Afghan "cowards" were hiding in caves, resentful of American freedoms, or "ultimately responsible for the events of 9/11" as some have stated. Instead, they found themselves in a nation where the order of the day was survival and the actual make-up and day to day activities of their nation's governing bodies were so far removed from their daily lives that they might as well have been decided by people in another nation across the world.  Perhaps with this analysis the reader can see that like Laila, Mariam, Tariq, Aziza, Zalmai, Rasheed, and the rest of the characters most people in Afghanistan had no ownership over their ruling bodies, the decisions made by them, or the actions of people whose last known whereabouts happened to be in Afghanistan.