1/11) Now that many Afghans talk about Khaled Hosseini and his Orientalism, let me share some of my views on his The Kite Runner, the bestseller which opened the eyes of the world to the atrocities Hazaras have been facing in the country for the last two centuries.

2/11) It showed how Hazaras before the Soviet Invasion were treated as second-class citizens if citizens at all.
There are troubling parts in the story: The fact that Hassan was the submissive boy, with almost no agency (the same is true about Hassan’s crippled father).

3/11) His mother was caricaturized as a voluptuous immoral Hazara woman, being abused by almost everyone in the neighborhood, including Amir’s father who raped her and produced Hassan. Despite that, “Baba” is a likable character in the book.

4/11) The book is more problematic in seeing the Communist takeover and subsequent Soviet invasion as the breaking point in the history of modern Afghanistan. There is a nostalgia for how everything worked beautifully and harmoniously in Afghanistan before 1978

5/11) and how the country became a worse place afterward. In other words, the same era which Hosseini portrays as racist (pre-1978 era) is nostalgic for Amir and even more for Baba, who triumphantly shouts “Fuck the Russia” in an American pub while celebrating Amir’s graduation.

6/11) The book has many elements of Orientalism, depicting Afghans men as backward and misogynist (a common theme in his other books, also visible in other Afghan and Iranian literature and films including Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi and Kandahar by Makhmalbaf).

7/11) To Hosseini’s credit, he goes beyond these clichés in The Kite Runner and opens a dialogue about another important issue, barely touched by others: racism against minorities in the country.

8/11) The Afghan diaspora, however, is worried more about their representation than anything else. Most of Hosseini's critique comes from the non-Hazara privileged diaspora, who have a hard time acknowledging the systemic racism in Afghanistan,

9/11) while concerned about being positively seen in the West, where they live. Under the disguise of criticizing Orientalism, they attack a prolific and accomplished author. Under the disguise of being anti-war (arguing that his book came conveniently before US invaded Afg.),

10/11) they create nostalgia of the pre-2001 era, when women were stoned to death, the Buddha statues were demolished, and as you can expect, Hazaras were massacred multiple times.

11/11) Hosseini is not flawless but the recent attacks on him look reactionary and inconsistent if not immoral and racist.