The Author of "The Kite Runner" Returns, Incognito, to Afghanistan

Quiet Goodwill In a Homeland The Writer Knows Too Well
The Author of "The Kite Runner" Returns, Incognito, to Afghanistan to Listen to Stories of Strife
By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, September 20, 2009


KABUL -- A convoy of big white Land Cruisers roared into a dusty lane on the outskirts of Kabul last weekend. Chickens scattered, children gawked. A slight man in jeans stepped out, trailed by a film crew and several policemen with rifles. After hurried consultations, elders were produced and the visitor was ushered into a mud hut.
"Man namaindai shobe audat mohajirin astam," he said, politely but vaguely, in perfect Afghan Dari. "I am a representative from office of refugee assistance."
The elders did not know his name, but they knew an opportunity when they saw it, and they posed obligingly for the cameras as they poured out litanies of fear, frustration and despair. More at the Post