Historical and Political Context for "The Kite Runner"

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2007/12/18/Kite_Runner_A_Panel_Discussion

Peter Bergen and Massoud Aziz discuss the historical and political context for the book and movie of "The Kite Runner."

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A panel discussion before an advanced screening of The Kite Runner. Presented by the New Republic in collaboration with the 6th and I Historic Synagogue. Panelists include Dr. Peter Bergen and Masood Aziz; New Republic Senior Editor Frank Foer moderates.

Peter Bergen is a print and television journalist, and the author of Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden (Free Press, 2001), which has been translated into 18 languages. His new book is The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda's Leader (Free Press, 2006). Both books were named among the best non-fiction books of the year by The Washington Post, and documentaries based on the books were nominated for Emmys in 2002 and 2007.

Mr. Bergen is CNN's terrorism analyst; an adjunct professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and a fellow at New York University’s Center on Law and Security. He is a member of the editorial board of Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and has testified on Capitol Hill. Mr. Bergen holds a M.A in modern history from New College, Oxford University.

Masood Aziz is a Counselor at the Afghanistan Embassy in Washington. He is the founder and acting Executive Director of the Afghanistan Policy Council, a think tank providing a distinct voice to challenging policy issues pertaining to Afghanistan.

Mr. Aziz has over 19 years of experience in executive management, international management consulting, banking and institutional investment management. He holds the French Baccalaureat, a Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA from the United States and is a frequent speaker and writer on economic and political matters related to Afghanistan and the greater Central Asia.

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[ZIVONZivon]

Great movie but 70's Afghanistan was the garden of central Asia, was known as the orchards of south Central Asia, green fertile, beutiful and the people specialy women was amongst the freeiest or one could say most liberal and modern int hat region, the movie fails to portray that. but love the rest

[rainbowwalker1]

very powerful, beautifully directed, loved it!!!!

[Zagrosi]

I know mate, the Pashto (Afghani) version spoken by most Afghans is very similar in Kurdish. For example, the numbers we use are the same, we also say 'Kaka' and 'Khan' etc...

[infiltratorr]

afghan speak pashto (afghani) only minorities speak dari and uzbeki, like

(tajiks, hazra, uzbeks..)

[Zagrosi]

Absolutely loved the book, it also made me smile as to how similar Afghanistan's version of Farsi is to my own language (Kurdish). Couldn't put the book down, all Afghan's should be proud of it. Now if only those Taliban scum would stop killing Afghan's.

As we say in Kurdish, Her biji Afghanistan.........long live Afghanistan.

[roxhana2]

i hope all gays in afghan and paki will stop torturing their young people. the movie is excellent, it's waking up the world.

[Bones98]

the film did portray it well. If you paid close attention, you would see Afghan women walking around wearing modern clothing, one of these instances was when Hassan, Amir, and his Father where riding in the car to Saifu's (spelling?) kite shop.

[hamidsahil]

Auther of the book is tajik, he just want to disgrace and disrespect the pashtuns but will have very bad consequences for him and for other ethnic groups in Afghanistan. People don't earn money the way he does.

[firefoxer000]

i haven't seen the movie, but read the book, a great one, well written, enjoyed every single chapter

[khewky]

great great movie