“The hope has never gone away in Afghanistan”

Khaled Hosseini, the bestselling author, speaks about the past, present and future of Afghanistan and his writerly life

Kabul-born American novelist and physician Khaled Hosseini has sold more than 40 million copies of three books set against the backdrop of his troubled native land. It all began with his breakthrough 2003 hit about a young boy and his heartbreaking personal encounter with ethnic tensions between the Hazaras and the Pashtuns, The Kite Runner (also a film); A Thousand Splendid Suns, following the story of two Afghan women through the transition from Soviet occupation to Taliban reign; and, last year, a series of interconnected multigenerational stories, And The Mountains Echoed. Using commercial fiction to explore the reality of change, these powerful stories vivify both tragedy and hope.

And as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Hosseini has embraced another role; once an asylum seeker, now based in San Jose, California, he helps raise awareness about refugees in Afghanistan and Chad. For, over thirty years, war has impoverished Afghanistan and created a huge refugee crisis: 8 million fled, and the 5 million who returned after the overthrow of the Taliban need our attention. The bestselling author speaks about the past, present and future of Afghanistan and the writerly life.

Is the old Afghanistan we see in your books remnant anywhere; a place where young boys could fly kites on the streets?

The country is a vastly, vastly different place than you saw in the beginning of The Kite Runner or later on. The first part of the book takes part in an Afghanistan we won’t see again—it is not recurring. Anything you say about Afghanistan is in light of the spectre of the three decades of the Soviet regime. That is all in the past, for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the nightmarish situation from before is not repeated.

There is talk, at the moment, of a chance for Afghanistan to press the reset button, with the international conference in London this week after foreign combat forces leave later this month. Do you credit this?

It is a period of transition, we’ll see how the government forms, how they are able to protect their population. What happens when most of the foreign troops are gone is that it looks like most are gone, but some are going to stay and engage. We need to prevent the situation we had in the 1990s, when you had different groups of militia fighting each other. That was a nightmare, and one that you are trying to avoid and hopefully that won’t repeat itself. We have a new government, a new committee, and the focus is on dealing with unemployment, security, corruption.

In my experience, the hope has never gone away in Afghanistan, it’s a pretty remarkable thing. People have much wider horizons. They continually compare the present day to a decade ago, when Afghanistan was in complete disarray, was being run by the Taliban: that dirty civil war. People compare and realise they are in a much better place. When you talk to people you find out they have a lot of grievances but that there has been change—just not as fast as we’d like.

Is there a common thread in the upheavals occurring in this part of the world?

Turmoil—I’m seeing turmoil, an entire period in transition, whether Egypt, Syria, or African countries, Pakistan as well. The entire region is stuck in a state of uncertainty and turmoil. And part of my work with the UN is to clarify what the impact is on the lives of ordinary people. One of the messages I have tried to get across is that what is going on in the region should not be the burden of a few neighbouring countries that have problems of their own. Lebanon, Pakistan and Iran for example, these countries have all hosted refugees. As international countries, we need to recognise that we need to play a part in what is happening there.

Can you tell us about the work of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, founded in 2008?

It is something I feel very good about, and very strongly about. The idea of the foundation is to try to provide aid to people in need, people who resemble characters in my books: orphans, elders and other disenfranchised people. Our primary focus is women and children, providing shelter for those in need. A lot goes to schooling, healthcare and the employment of women, and so on. We get a lot of feedback, letters from people trying to help and from streetchildren.

Can you tell us a little about your work with the UNHCR as Goodwill Ambassador?

Since 2006, I have been working with the UNHCR, to raise awareness regarding the plight of refugees. We aim to make a story that seems like a bunch of statistics more human. Millions of people around the world who have lost family members have done so through forces outside their control. Afghanistan had the largest refugee population in the world, it is now Syrians unfortunately who are displaced through the situation in Syria. I went to Iraq earlier this year. No Syrian on the ground felt there was light at the end of the tunnel. I met a lot of people who would like nothing more than to be back at home; they had to move because it’s simply not safe. Millions exiled, living in limbo, either in Iraq or in Lebanon.

Have your children been to Afghanistan?

Hopefully one day when things have calmed down, there is nothing I’d like more than for them to see where I grew up. As a father, it would be a bit reckless of me to take them there.

And have they seen your work? What is their familiarity with its context, do they speak Farsi?

My son, who is 14, has read all of the books. My 11-year-old daughter is clamouring to read The Kite Runner! Both my children are bilingual, both know how to read and write in their native language. This is my attempt to keep alive some vestiges of cultural ancestry. Language is really important.

Your fans waited an impatient six years for the third book. What is it like dealing with the demands of the publishing industry, and writing full time?

I wrote my first novel pretty quickly. I kind of envy how prolific I was then. I guess I’m becoming more discriminating, and slowing down. After the first book was published, in December 2004, I was in the midst of writing my second book and left to go full time. I meet some of my former colleague and patients, but I don’t really miss it. Writing has been a passion of mine since I was a little boy.

What are you reading?

I read contemporary fiction, whether I’m writing or not. I’m a chain reader; I will read novel series from one book to the next. I’m not a very educated writer; I’m trying to go back to the classics, which English literature majors read back in the day.

What are you working on next? And do you ever think about non-fiction?

I have several projects. I’m working on a novel. Non-fiction just doesn’t hold any interest for me, can feel like I’m back in college with an assignment. Fiction doesn’t feel like work. To be able to do something you love as a job is wonderful.

A Thousand Splendid SunsAnd The Mountains EchoedKhaled HosseiniThe Kite Runner