United World College of the Adriatic Hamidullah Wafakaish Candidate Number: (000197 090!

"esearch #uestion:

$o %hat e&tend does the 'ortra(al of afghan %omen reflects the real life treatment in )ite "unner*

The Afghan Women in Kite Runner

Table of Contents

1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. How afghan women were through the history?

3 4 5/

4. How Taliban!s abused women rights in com"arison to other Islamic

countries?

#/$

5% How im"acts of education of women were in family/society? &

6. How were the in'ol'ement of women in social and economic

de'elo"ment?
7. Conclusion% 8. +ibliogra"hy

() ((/(* (3

The Afghan Women in Kite Runner

ABSTRACT
Through the novel of Kite Runner apart from any other circumstances such as changes in political regimes and transformation of leaders, the situation of afghan women is concerning and has deep sorrows behind it. As an interpretation of Kite Runner through the passage of history the ings and monarchs of Afghanistan have also made some efforts to empower and to promote the women but unfortunately the e!istence of provincial e!tremists and the misuse of religion have caused several assassinations of "onarchs and #residents which ended up to failure of these endeavors such as when BABA says $ Russians invaded our country and "u%ahidin invades our souls&. The over view of ite runner describes the most prominent situation and lifestyles of Afghan people through the novel along with some details from the past and some details from the usual and common behavior of $"en world& history in the novel. As a brief overview of real life situation of afghan women in the Kite Runner, it could be said that, the life which an afghan woman is having outside the country as $Soraya& is totally far from the real fact of those who lives inside Afghanistan. The picture which $Khalid 'osseini& has drawn to describe the woman in Kite Rrunner describes the social impacts of Afghans on education for both boys and girls and also it describes the impacts of social and race imbalances through the novel by picturing $BABA& as $chief or head& (pashtun) and 'assan $ servant or poor& ('a*ara). The life and situation of women in Kite Runner still remains un answered because, there have been attempts and discriminations against women through the period of

mu%ahidin and Russian invasion but yet there is not such a response to the past and coming future of afghan women in both ,ite -unner and real life situation.

The political and social situation of Afghanistan and its impacts on Afghan women are worthy to be focused, because the tough situations and circumstances, which Afghan women have faced, have deep sorrows in the past and in the current situation of Afghanistan. Afghanistan may be the only country in the world where during the last century kings and politicians have promised struggles relating to womens status and their rights but all failed and promises remained unfulfilled. The above introduced points such as the discrimination of women rights as a result of political, economical and social occurrences which had happened and it is still on practice on Islamic states certainly in Afghanistan will be discussed on details through this topic. The challenges and difficulties which afghan women have faced according to Kite Runner during the three decades of civil war are very painful and simultaneously it might bring changes to the perspectives of many who are concerned about the global human rights certainly women rights in Afghanistan. ecently, the situation of women under the Taliban regime has been center stage. The situation of women came to symboli!e to "estern military powers a #ustification of war in the name of freedom of women. $ut the situation of women in Afghanistan today is not only the result of the Talibans policies. The troubles and discrimination through the history of afghan women starts since the Islamic %tate of Afghanistan was created in &'&' after the withdrawal of $ritish (overnment. There is a history over the centuries of womens sub#ugation. )ven in more recent times the *u#ahidin &s +&'',-&''./ record is worse than the Talibans, because Taliban only enforced the previous law of mu#ahidin which was to deprive women from society and community for e0ample1 according to Kite Runner 2assans, *other desired to have a peaceful and democratic life but she had never had the chance to feel real freedom in her life and the government responding to a demand
1 2

Taliban and Mujahidin will be referred to as Islamic Fundamentalists. !assan" #li$s son and the second %rota&onist of 'ite runner after #mir son of (aba.

from society and vice versa on society were twisting the concept of freedom and imposing on her to wear $ur3a or veil and when a woman was disagreeing to do so, she would be given different name such as prostitute. These restrictions finally resulted in her fleeing with a group of freebooters. The women of Afghanistan have been withdrawn from the society as a result of political, social and economical changes during the dark three decades of civil war which locked the Afghan women under the roofs of their houses for years and years like 2assans mother+%anawbar/ who had secret relationship with Amirs father+$aba/ but, she could not reveal it because of social repercussions, which would result in her death. According to %haria +4aw of Islam/ the women are free and have their rights to decide upon their daily activities but the political anarchy during the three decades of war and before that, left the women behind of technology and education. The fact of Afghanistan being a traditional Islamic country run by men, had its strong impacts on womens situation through the history, the women were considered to be weak creature in terms of not being able to work hard like a man, weak in decision making, problem solving and other habitual activities in the society like %oraya when she could not have the right to choose her future husband5 however, she had the same ability and courage as the other men have but, the traditional society had made her unable to e0press herself. The old Islamic tradition which keeps the women inside their houses and imposes them to wear $ur3a or veil and even they are not able to decide about their future, is still practiced in afghan families and society which has its unbearable effects on the empowerment and development of women in Afghanistan and the clima0 of women prestige are the workers and cleaners of the houses or at most a baby sitter. The evident of real situation of women in Afghanistan during the Taliban has also been shown by an Afghani film called 6sama. The film 6sama e0presses and identifies the common law and behavior of Taliban war lords and draws the image of a women which has no one e0cept Allah or (od to help her from Taliban. The picture which 6sama draws is the real tough circumstances and moments which a female human kind can have in their life like working for livings, cutting her hair to become like a boy, imposed marriage with mos3ue priest and having no right defend her rights to choose.

)ite *unner+

According to Kite Runner the transformation of the Afghan government differed from one president 7a#ibullah+ egime/ 8ommunism to other or from one 9ing :ahir+;arty/ 9ingdom to other for e0ample Taliban <&''.-,==&> the most conservative regime and communism <&'?@ - &'@'> the less conservative political regime. The changes in political regimes on the one hand were promising for freedom of women but the other hand it was abusing the rights of women, for e0ampleA communism in Afghanistan was proclaiming for human rights but according to 9ite unner the ussian wanted to rape the women on the way to ;akistan these roussi are not like us. They understand nothing about respect, honorB. *u#ahidin or Taliban were useless for women rights through the history flogging women for wearing high heelsC. The differentiation of state of being of ethnic and tribal figure had also its impacts on the life of women and society in Afghanistan because women of the more influential tribes had more prestige and more credit among the other women in the society such as Ali however, he was a man but still he related to the minority group of Afghanistan and he used to be as watch man of the other related tribe people according to Kite Runner massacring of 2a!aras.. The impact of society and backward behavior of people with gender balance issues caused a women in a family did not have the same rights as other male of the family had as Amir says in Kite Runner Dathers and sons could talk freely about women. $ut no afghan girl?, because it was the way that, the males gender of the family or the head of the family believed that women were the housekeepers, and the male member of the family had the right to decide about the female member of the family according to 9ite unner, where (eneral @ decides everything in the house including whether %oraya should marry Amir khan or notE. According to the book <Ahmed-Ghosh>' "omen are accurately points out that, the issue of womens rights in Afghanistan has been historically constrained by +a/ the patriarchal nature of gender and social relations deeply embedded in traditional communities and +b/ the e0istence of a weak central state, that has been unable to implement moderni!ing programs and goals in the face of tribal feudalism. In addition, It can be argued that, foreign interference by the $ritish, %oviet Fnion and the Fnited %tates of America, dating to the &@@=s, critically impeded social development in Afghanistan. The tribal leaders blocked reform efforts that aimed to separate
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womens identity from that of her family and tribal community, and ultimately any attempts at moderni!ing the state. Afghanistan is very rugged in its topography and various ethnic, religious, and tribal groups sparsely populate it. In +&''@/ the population of Afghanistan was appro0imately 5, million. In addition, interferences by western countries ussian invasion on Afghanistan &'?'&= and countries bordering Afghanistan have contributed to the $reakage of the Afghan purity. In many instances, tribal politics is still determined by ethnic loyalties to bordering states. Although there have been sporadic attempts to bring opponent tribes together, at no point has the Afghan nation e0perienced a strong centrali!ed state with a common legal system for e0ampleA communism invaded Afghanistan and promised to develop the country but instead they sabotaged the country or when mu#ahidin took over by the name of (od or +holy warriors/ to protect Islam in Afghanistan but what happenedE They brought Islam into the war fairs and did crimes under the shelter of Islam&&. Instead, rival ethnic groups have had political ambitions to capture 9abul and, through wellarmed tribal leaders +supported by e0ternal funds/, created their own autonomy. )thnically based rivalries, combined with open and varied interpretations of Islam, have created fractious cultures. The impact on women has been especially harsh, since womens lives have often been used as the common goods as Kite Runner is the evident of this issue, which a women is been harassed by ussian soldier on the way to ;akistan and no one can prevent of his action because as the feelings and reactions of her husband shows that, not only him is unable to react but also this occurrence draws the picture of all women which were being harassed by ussians soldiers during the reign of ussians in Afghanistan. According to Kite Runner, women in afghan culture plays the role of pride and honor among the families and people and thats why $A$A could not see that an Afghan women is being harassed in his e0istence on the way to ;akistan. Tribal laws and sanctions have routinely taken precedence over Islamic and constitutional laws in deciding gender roles, especially through kinship hierarchies in the rural regions. Tribal power plays, institutions of honor, and inter-tribal shows of patriarchal control have put womens position in #eopardy. Tribal laws view marriages as alliances between groupsA women are

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)ite *unner+ %a&e 1-2+ %ara&ra%h 2. 6olitical frailt0 and forei&n interferences b0 7*. 8abi Musdi9+ :ondon;<)= 8ew >or';</=+ 2--6

pawned into marriages and not allowed to divorce, total obedience to the husband and his family is e0pected&,. Through the C== years of Afghan history, the women of Afghanistan did not have their complete rights as a result of political and social changes&5 till Amir Abdur ahman 9han the *odern *onarch of Afghanistan who ruled from &@@=-&'=& gave the first right to women of ;ashtun tribe to divorce their husbands and discriminated the rights of other tribe of Afghan women such as the discrimination of 2a!aras and Ta#iks. Guring the eleven years of Abdur ahmans reign the women of ;ashtuns developed and got the better chances to be educated and found the rights to be employed in governmental establishments but, from the other side the modern king of Afghanistan killed, tortured, hanged and sold the young girls of 2a!aras and Ta#iks in for coin to the volunteer groups as he says when I first succeeded to the throne of Kabul my life was not a bed of roses. Here began my first severe fight against my own relations, my own subjects, my own eo le.&BH or in other words, the king of Afghanistan sold the young girls priceless to other ;ashtuns to avoid the influence of other tribes to reach to power by the increase of their population and according to kite runner Taliban were whether kidnapping or by force taking the young girls or young boys to rape and the evident of this issue is shown in 9ite unner when Amir arrives to orphanage and finds out that %ohrab is already been taken away. The picture which has been drawn in 9ite unner shows that, during the reign of Taliban on Afghanistan, there were no place for orphans in the country but if there were, it would have been e0tremely poor or used to keep alive the orphans. *ahmood Tar!i <!he writer who ac"nowledged the liberali#ation of women in Afghanistan for the first time> 2e was strongly influenced by modern interpretation of Islamic #urisprudence and by liberties of Turkey and %yria where he was educated. Tar!i viewed women as people who deserved full citi!enshipA he claimed that educated women were an asset to future generations and concluded that Islam did not deny them e3ual rights but according to the hidden face of )ve Gue to Tar!is&C liberal influence 2abibullah khan < the successor of Abdurahman 9han> opened a school for girls with )nglish curriculum. The influence of Tar!is ideology were on practice till
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?i'i%edia+ wh0 af&han women %refer death to marria&e+ -,3-332--1+ htt%233abcnews.&o.com38i&htline3stor0@idA31-168B%a&eA1

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#miriC *ina. .Muslim ?omen as /0mbols.and 6awns.. In The 8ew >or' Times+ 8ew >or'C 8>+ 8oD 27C 2--1.
14 1,

htt%233www.af&hanan.net3af&hanistan3abdurahman.htm TarEi+ is the bi&&est human science %rofessional in #f&hanistan in 21/T centur0.

&'?' but after that, as it is viewed in 9ite unner, that girls left the colleges and schools as well as the boys because of political and social anarchies. The liberation and independence of women in Afghanistan unfortunately faced and suffered from old traditions and Islamic ancient customs which did not allow women to be involved in community and social activities which finally caused 2abibullah khan to be assassinated +,=I=,I&'&' /by *ullahs&. and Islamic fundamentalists this a result of women liberation or selfdependent policies and as $aba says, ussian invaded our independence and *u#ahidin invaded our souls. It means that both regimes were useless in terms of education and democracy. There have been many attempts and struggles for the liberation and moderni!ation of women in Afghanistan in twenty-first century. The e0istence of Islamic fundamentalists or in other words the e0istence of +mullahs/ and tribal leaders causes and #eopardi!es the empowerment and developments of women in Afghanistan. All the attempts for the liberation of women have been frustrated by Islamic fundamentalists or tribal leaders for self-enhancements and profits. The main causes and reasons for the discrimination of women rights are the empowerments of tribal leaders and foreign interferences. According to the book +Afghanistan and Doreign Interferences/ the tribal leaders were being supported financial and by foreign countries mainly by ;akistan and to be involved in conflicts with each other to in force their aims which was to bring Taliban in Afghanistan. *any conservative Afghans felt that the reforms from central government to improve women rights were too western for their society and forced changes were against the doctrines of Islam. ;eople in the country side were unable to comprehend the changes being imposed on them in haste, especially when men saw these changes as challenging their familial and tribal authority. esistance was strongest to the abolition of bride price and polygamy, and to the introduction of education for girls. &',=s were the time when the conflict between modernists and traditionalist tribes began to work. The main connection of this conflict was changing the status of women. "hat caused this war was the abolition of bride price and giving freedom to women to choose their partners and finally fathers of young women saw such a law against the provincial and social status, familial control and financial security.

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Mullah2 could be called the Islamic fundamentalists"C or the %riest of mos9ue.

The tribal and ethnical rights abuse by the central ;ashtun government has caused the regional tribal leaders which plays the role of protector to resist against the government and constitute their own laws which not only affects womens rights but also it affects the economical and social situation. The respect which the central ;ashtun government had toward ;ashtun women is 3uite far away from the torture and irrational behavior which they had committed to other tribes or ethnics women in Afghanistan. The evident of this situation was viewed by A"A.6 ( + revolutionary association of women Afghanistan/ which a 2a!ara woman was shoot on the head because of walking without a family member. According to the 2idden Dace of )ve&? the regime which Taliban had created for their political strategies in the name of Islam is 3uite far away from the real fact of Islam. $efore the creation of Islam the people of ancient times were burying their daughters because they were thinking that, women as human being is a shame for the family toward their society and the they were making efforts to hide the face or bury the new female born child. The ancient Arabic traditions had taught the people to hide the face of the women to survive among the unpopular society. As the conclusion we can say that, The 9ite unner follows the maturation of Amir, a male from Afghanistan who needs to find his way in the world as he reali!es that his own belief system is not that of his dominant culture. As an adult, Amir also needs a way to atone for a childhood carelessness, when an act of cowardice costs him more than #ust a friendship. The novel is %et in Afghanistan and the united states, the kite runner is a story that illustrates the similarities as well as the differences between the two countries and the two vastly different cultures. It is the story of both fathers and sons and friends and brothers, and it is a novel about right and wrong and the nature of evil. the picture which is drawn in 9ite unner, it really characteri!es the main impacts of social

changes as well as the human rights and history through the book. 9halid 2ussaini emphasi!es on the passage of afghan history and his life time in Afghanistan more anything else in the novel. The efforts of 9halid 2ussaini is more on human right abuse through the history of Afghanistan certainly when, the situation and life of afghan women were the prior figures of changes in political and social deficiencies in Afghanistan.

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8awal al /adawi+ !idden Face of FDeG the women in #rab ?orldH.

1-

Afghanistan as a traditional Islamic state could not gain its independence from the foreign interferences because through the passage of history the monarchs and presidents were dependent on foreign supporters or it was a puppet of foreign powers +F%, $ritish, F%% / which mainly aimed to destruct Afghanistan instead of construction and what 9ite unner describes is the portion of afghan history and 2uman ights abuse mainly women rights abuse in Afghanistan. According to +Afghanistan and Doreign Interferences/ the transformation of presidents and *onarchs along with their laws and regulations which were totally different from each other + %haria law, 8ommunism, democracy,/ caused the afghan people not to have any constitution which would protect the rights of a civilian against each other. The dependencies of leaders of Afghanistan on e0ternal supporters led the people to disobey the government and laws which gradually caused the women to keep away of society and public as a result of family impacts. Those women who were publicly visible throughout the history of Afghanistan belonged to royalty and elite and represented a very tiny population of the country. They do show the involvement of women in the society but it has never shown the complete independencies of women in Afghanistan. Taliban claim to follow a pure Islamic ideology, but the oppression they perpetrate against women has no basis in Islam. In entire world of Islam the women is a great part of society which allows them to have e3ual right as men but according to Taliban women are the slaves of men&@. %imultaneously the invasion if %oviet on Afghanistan aimed to give e3ual right to the citi!ens of Afghanistan but what was not e0pected human rights abuse happened and total system of government changed which resulted civil war in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, democracy and women independence could be achieved when there is potentially strong government based on economic growth, education and diplomatic stability which both men and women would be involved. Dor bringing a complete and pure democracy which will be responsible for human rights or certainly women rights, takes many generations to changes the view of people which is full of violence and cowardice and this aim only can be achieved when there will be efforts on education and social life. In Afghanistan, democracy will occur as a process of complete social change which the afghan nation really needs to undergo. "hen the democracy comes to practice in Afghanistan, the democratic oriented ideology will call women as e3ual life partner.

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