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Afghanistan History:
"Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agrees to help Afghanistan, and the two countries become close allies."

US/Personal History

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Afghanistan History: Nothing particularly different.

Novel:
Mariam is born.

US:
Eisenhower is US President;
Hawaii becomes the 50th state.
VP Nixon debates Russia's Khrushchev

Personal:

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Afghanistan:
As part of Daoud’s reforms, women are allowed to attend university and enter the workforce.

Novel: Mariam is a little girl who is being raised in the kolba by Nana. She is about 5 years old.

US:
Vietnam War has been going on since 1965.

Personal:

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Daoud Khan overthrows the last king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, in a military coup. Khan’s regime, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, comes to power. Khan abolishes the monarchy and names himself president. The Republic of Afghanistan is established with firm ties to the USSR.

Novel: Mariam is 14 years old, going on 15. She wants to see a movie at Jalil's cinema for her birthday but ends up running away when he stands her up. Jalil marries her off to Rasheed and she moves to Kabul with her new husband.

US/Personal History:

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Afghanistan History:
Daoud Khan proposes a new constitution that grants women rights and works to modernize the largely communist state. He also cracks down on opponents, forcing many suspected of not supporting Khan out of the government.

Novel: (Chapters 12-14)

US/Personal:

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Afghanistan History: Daoud Khan is killed in a communist coup.  Nur Mohammad Taraki, a founder of the Afghan Communist party, takes control of the country at president. Afghanistan proclaims independence from the Soviet Union and says that the country will be ruled based on Islamic principles, Afghan nationalism, and socioeconomic justice. Taraki signs a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union.

Conservative Islamic and social leaders who object to Daoud Khan's social changes begin an armed revolt across the countryside.

Novel: Chapter 15 and others as flashbacks.

US/Personal:

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Novel: Mariam and Rasheed and wakened by planes flying overhead and sounds of bombing. Ten thousand people went on a demonstration march; Mariam and Rasheed stayed home. Farina has her baby that night. Names the baby Laila. Mariam asks Rasheed to tell her what communists believe and since he does not know, he changes the subject and tells her she is ignorant. Rasheed has been mean to Mariam because if her miscarriage. Mariam has tried hard to please him, but when she undercooks the rice for dinner, Rasheed makes her chew rocks, which causes some of her teeth to break.

US/Personal:  Mrs. Sullivan was a sophomore in high school. Jimmy Carter was the president.

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Afghanistan History: US cuts off assistance to Afghanistan. Power struggle between Deputy Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin and Taraki takes place and ends with Taraki being killed on 9/14.

Dec. 24th: USSR invades Afgahnistan to bolster the communistic regime.

Dec. 27th: Amin and many of his followers are executed and Babrak Karmal  becomes Prime Minister.
Opposition against Karmal and the Soviets spawns widespread demonstrations.

In early 1980, Mujahadeen rebels unite against Soviet invaders and USSR-backed army.

Novel:

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History: 2.8 million Afghans flee to Pakistan and 1.5 million flee to Iran to get away from the violence. Afghan guerillas control rural places and Soviet troops control urban areas.

Novel:

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History: "Although he claims to have traveled to Afghanistan immediately after the Soviet invasion, Saudi Islamist Osama bin Laden makes his first documented trip to Afghanistan to aid anti-Soviet fighters."

"The United Nations investigates reported human rights violations in Afghanistan."

Novel:

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History: The Mujahadeen are receiving arms from the United States, Britain and China via Pakistan.

Novel:

US/Personal

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We met ,a,,y and Babi, 9 years have past and Lila is now in school. Her brothers are away fighting the rebel and Mammy is depressed because of this. Laila has a best friend named Tariq, who is older than her. She’s fond of him.

US history: Full metal jacket was released in theaters. Reagan was President.

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Afghanistan History: In September, Osama bin Laden and 15 other Islamists form the group al-Qaida, or “the base”, to continue their jihad, or holy war, against the Soviets and other who they say oppose their goal of a pure nation governed by Islam. With their belief that the Soviet’s faltering war in Afghanistan was directly attributable to their fighting, they claim victory in their first battle, but also begin to shift their focus to America, saying the remaining superpower is the main obstacle to the establishment of a state based on Islam.

Novel:

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History: The U.S., Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Soviet Union sign peace accords in Geneva guaranteeing Afghan independence and the withdrawal of 100,000 Soviet troops. Following Soviet withdrawal, the Mujahadeen continue their resistance against the Soviet-backed regime of communist president Dr. Mohammad Najibullah, who had been elected president of the puppet Soviet state in 1986. Afghan guerrillas name Sibhatullah Mojadidi as head of their exiled government.

Novel: Kajlala Rangmaal tells the class the soviets came to Afganistan to “help” the Afganistan people defeat the “brutes” who dont want to be governed by communists.

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History: The Mujahadeen and other rebel groups, with the aid of turncoat government troops, storm the capital, Kabul, and oust Najibullah from power. Ahmad Shah Masood, legendary guerrilla leader, leads the troops into the capital. The United Nations offers protection to Najibullah. The Mujahadeen, a group already beginning to fracture as warlords fight over the future of Afghanistan, form a largely Islamic state with professor Burhannudin Rabbani as president.

Novel:

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History: Newly formed Islamic militia, the Taliban, rises to power on promises of peace. Most Afghans, exhausted by years of drought, famine and war, approve of the Taliban for upholding traditional Islamic values. The Taliban outlaw cultivation of poppies for the opium trade, crack down on crime, and curtail the education and employment of women. Women are required to be fully veiled and are not allowed outside alone. Islamic law is enforced via public executions and amputations. The United States refuses to recognize the authority of the Taliban.

Novel:

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History: Continuing drought devastates farmers and makes many rural areas uninhabitable. More than 1 million Afghans flee to neighboring Pakistan, where they languish in squalid refugee camps.

1997: The Taliban publicly executes Najibullah.

Ethnic groups in the north, under Masood’s Northern Alliance, and the south, aided in part by Hamid Karzai, continue to battle the Taliban for control of the country.

1998: Following al-Qaida’s bombings of two American embassies in Africa, President Clinton orders cruise missile attacks against bin Laden’s training camps in Afghanistan. The attacks miss the Saudi and other leaders of the terrorist group.

Novel:

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History: By now considered an international terrorist, bin Laden is widely believed to be hiding in Afghanistan, where he is cultivating thousands of followers in terrorist training camps. The United States demands that bin Laden be extradited to stand trial for the embassy bombings. The Taliban decline to extradite him. The United Nations punishes Afghanistan with sanctions restricting trade and economic development.

Novel:

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History: Ignoring international protests, the Taliban carry out their threat to destroy Buddhist statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, saying they are an affront to Islam.

Sept. 4, 2001

A month after arresting them, the Taliban put eight international aid workers on trial for spreading Christianity. Under Taliban rule, proselytizing is punishable by death. The group is held in various Afghan prisons for months and finally released Nov. 15.

Sept. 9, 2001

Masood, still head of the Northern Alliance and the nation’s top insurgent, is killed by assassins posing as journalists.

Novel:

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History: Hijackers commandeer four commercial airplanes and crash them into the World Trade Center Towers in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a Pennsylvania field, killing thousands. Days later, U.S. officials say bin Laden, the Saudi exile believed to be hiding in Afghanistan, is the prime suspect in the attack.

Novel:

US/Personal

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Afghanistan History:
Oct. 7, 2001

Following unanswered demands that the Taliban turn over bin Laden, U.S. and British forces launch airstrikes against targets in Afghanistan. American warplanes start to bomb Taliban targets and bases reportedly belonging to the al-Qaida network. The Taliban proclaim they are ready for jihad.

Nov. 13, 2001

After weeks of intense fighting with Taliban troops, the Northern Alliance enters Kabul. The retreating Taliban flee southward toward Kandahar.

Dec. 7, 2001

Taliban fighters abandon their final stronghold in Kandahar as the militia group’s hold on Afghanistan continues to disintegrate. Two days later, Taliban leaders surrender the group’s final Afghan territory, the province of Zabul. The move leads the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press to declare “the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan has totally ended.”

Dec. 22, 2001

Hamid Karzai, a royalist and ethnic Pashtun, is sworn in as the leader of the interim government in Afghanistan. Karzai entered Afghanistan after living in exile for years in neighboring Pakistan. At the U.N.-sponsored conference to determine an interim government, Karzai already has the support of the United States and by the end of the conference is elected leader of the six-month government.

2002

In June, the Loya Jirga, or grand council, elects U.S.-backed Hamid Karzai as interim leader. Karzai chooses the members of his government who will serve until 2004, when the government is required to organize elections.

2003

Amid increased violence, NATO takes over security in Kabul in August. The effort is the security organization’s first-ever commitment outside of Europe.

January 2004

The Loya Jirga adopts a new constitution following input from nearly 500,000 Afghans, some of whom participate in public meetings in villages. The new constitution calls for a president and two vice presidents, but the office of prime minister is removed at the last minute. The official languages, according to the constitution, are Pashto and Dari. Also, the new constitution calls for equality for women.

October 2004

Presidential elections are held. More than 10.5 million Afghans register to vote and choose among 18 presidential candidates, including interim leader Karzai. Karzai is elected with 55 percent of the vote.

Novel:

US/Personal