The author of "The Kite Runner" has written another masterpiece, "A Thousand Splendid Suns". While the actual story focuses on the plight of women in Afghanistan with all the horrors associated with their culture as well as the forces of tyranny (Taliban and the recurrent military adventures), it does at least end on a positive note. The sadness associated with the burdens placed on women was overwhelming, but the author was kind enough to end the story with hope, at least for a few.
Reading this book in the context of what we know about Afghanistan through the news, it is a puzzle to see how the efforts of any outside force will overcome the history of this people. The layers of loyalty, schematically aligned to different war lords, coupled with the rigidity of their religious and gender issues, seem gigantic obstacles to any change. It seems that outside intervention only stimulates their resistance to any change.
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