Reading Afghanistan

For a country many of us can’t even point to on a map, Afghanistan has held a consequential place in world history. This mountainous district composed of tribes that barely hold together lies on a crossroad between civilizations and cultures. It’s a bridge between east and west as far back as Alexander, who married a tribal princess from the region. Afghanistan sheltered the terrorists who brought down the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon on 9/11, and it was the first rogue government to fall in the backlash.

And now it’s fallen again, with consequences yet to be felt by the rest of the world.

One way we can help our children understand the background of what’s happening is through good books. Here’s a short list of novels (and one memoir) we’ve reviewed over the years that could develop sympathy for the beleaguered country and its people:

• The Kite Runner, a huge bestseller for adults, is a portrait of Afghanistan before and during Taliban rule. It’s on many high-school reading lists, but very problematic, as Betsy outlines in the post.
• Shooting Kabul follows the fortunes of an Afghan family who escaped the country during the first Taliban takeover.
• In the Land of Blue Burqas (starred review). While working for an NGO in Afghanistan, the author found ways to share her faith with the people there, primarily women.
• If You’re Reading This and Enduring Freedom. The author is an Afghan war veteran turned YA novelist. Enduring Freedom offers two perspectives of the war in Afghanistan: that of an American G.I. and an Afghan civilian. If You’re Reading This is a stateside view from an American teen who lost his father in the conflict.

Also, though we haven’t reviewed it, Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King is the story of two 19th-century British soldiers who seek their fortunes in “the graveyard of empires.” The movie version is excellent.

Above all, pray earnestly for Afghanistan and the people once freed, now trapped again.