ATSS and POT - for merge; A Thousand Splendid Suns Is Predictive Programming And A Glimpse Of A Different Universe In The Multiverse; Prisoner Of Tehran; Afghanistan And Iran Need Orthodox Trotskyism And Epoch Rewilding

Galasinao1
Kevin Galasinao
Mrs. Marroum
ENG 3U1
June 2013
The Similarities between A Thousand Splendid Suns and Prisoner of Tehran
Introduction
A Thousand Splendid Suns and Prisoner of Tehran are two books. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a
fictional story that was written by Khaled Hosseini. It deals with the lives of two women, Mariam and
Laila, while the two experience the important historical events of their nation, Afghanistan. Prisoner of
Tehran, on the other hand, is a memoir that was written by Marina Nemat. It deals with the author’s
account of events that happened in her life; her time in an Iranian prison called Evin, her childhood, how
she experiences the important historical events of her nation, Iran, and her forced marriage with a prison
guard by the name of Ali. While these two books are different from each other, they have similar to each
other. What makes these books similar to one another is how the historical events of their own nation
affect the main characters in these two different types of literature.
1. Not Arab Countries
Afghanistan and Iran may be in the Middle East but they are not Arab countries. You see,Arab does
not mean Islamic. There may be a majority of Muslim in Arab countries but there are people of different
religions like Christians and Muslims. Nor does it mean Nomad or cameldweller. More than forty percent
of people live in metropolitan areas while many more live in small villages and small towns. Arab is
anyone who speaks Arabic, lives in or comes from an Arab country, and voluntarily identifies him with
Arabic culture. To be Arab is to be part of a culture with a long history of tradition. Afghanistan and Iran
cannot be considered Arab countries because they don’t have the Arab culture.
2. The Cold War
During World War II, the capitalist country, the United States of America, and the communist
country, the Soviet Union, were allies in their war against the Axis forces,Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan,
Fascist Italy, and etc. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. (Another name for the Soviet Union; stands for United
Soviet Socialist Republics) were part of a group called the Allied forces. The Soviet Union was brought to
the war because NaziGermany invaded it in 1942, Hitler had violated a treaty that would ensure peace
between them. The U.S.,on the other hand, got involved because Imperial Japan had bombed in Pearl
Harbour in Hawai’ii.
In 1945, the Allies managed to defeat the Axis thus ending the war. Unfortunately, there was no war.
In fact,there was a possibility for a new war. One between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. After the war,the
two nations ended up becoming superpowers because of their good economies and powerful armies.
Unfortunately, each side disliked their economic systems; the U.S. disliked the system of communism,
the U.S.S.R. disliked the system of capitalism. Each side feared that the other would try to destroy them,
and that they would have more power over them. So, the two superpowers had this feud called the Cold

Galasinao2
War. It wasn’t actual war where weapons were used and people died. No it was a period of tension and
fear between the two nations; each side gained powerful weapons,nuclear weapons, and they made their
armies extremely powerful. Each side wanted a powerful army and powerful weapons to be able to
defend themselves from and defeat the other superpower.
Also, each side wanted to extend their influence upon other nations. The reason for this was to be
powerful, and to be powerful than the other side. Now, in order to be influential than other nations, these
superpowers had done different ways. They either invaded or occupied other nations, and established
governments there were they were loyal to the different superpower,a friend to that superpower. But they
were at odds with the superpower’s enemy. “The enemy of friend is my enemy.” The United States had
been an ally to the Shah’s Iran because it had provided oil to America. The Soviet Union had been an ally
to the People’s Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (this Afghanistan had been a communist country).
Also, each superpower had created each loyal country through a coup. But these nations did not last. They
ended up changing into Islamic nations that were at odds with their former loyal superpower and the other
superpower. The reasons that these nations changed was because the people did not like the other
superpowers because the governments that they had established were cruel and oppressive towards the
people.
3. Coups That Led To The Previous Autocratic Nations
Next, Afghanistan and Iran are similar because of their coups they went through. Each coup was
influenced by a superpower; the new nation ended up being loyal to that superpower. Communists of
Afghanistan created a coup in order to make the nation a pro-Soviet communist country. Imperialists of
Iran got rid of Mossadeq,despite being democratically elected by the Iranians, so that Iran could be
completely ruled by the Shah; his nation was pro-Western,pro-American, and provided oil to the United
States
The Communist Coup in Afghanistan
In the past, Afghanistan was once a monarchy. After World War II, Afghanistan changed, Hashim
Khan passed the prime minister ship to Shah Mahmud in 1946. Shah Mahmud tried but failed to steer
increasing demands for political liberalization into democratic channels. On September 20, 1953, a
Musahiban family meeting of the senior brothers and their children assembled to decide which of the
senior-generation sons, Zahir Shah or Daoud Khan, should receive the mantle of leadership from Shah
Mahmud. The meeting led to Dahoud being handed authority; Zahir Shah would remain a ceremonial
monarch.
Daoud was determined to modernize Afghanistan quickly. His intention was to finance a modern
military to stand up to Pakistan, launch an ambitious economic development program, and construct a
strong government at the centre.
Daoud needed a foreign ally to accomplish his goals. His first choice was the United States. The U.S.
was faraway and non-threatening. Prince Naim, Daoud’s foreign minister, younger brother, and closest
adviser, delivered confidentially Daoud’s appealfor arms and assistance in Washington. But the
Eisenhower administration rejected this appeal. In a diplomatic note delivered to the Afghan ambassador

Galasinao3
in Washington on December 28, 1954, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles rejected Daoud’s request. He
stated that it instead of asking for arms, Afghanistan should settle the Pashtunistan. Daoud was outraged.
He could no longer rely on the United States. But he could rely on its enemy, the Soviet Union. The
enemy of my enemy is my friend. One month later, in January 1955, Daoud formally accepted a Soviet
offer of military assistance. He convened a loyal Jirga in Kabul to endorse Afghan acceptance of Soviet
arms. In 1955, Khruschev visited Afghanistan. Afghanistan was the first stop by the Soviet leader on his
first trip abroad to inaugurate Moscow’s outreach to the Third World.
On his deathbed in 1901, Abdur Rahman Khan had warned future Afghan ruler Habibullah: “My last
words to you, my son and successor,are: Never trust the Russians.” Daoud’s Musahiban uncles had
conducted normal state-to-state relations with the Soviet Union while supressing the Soviet presence in
Afghanistan. But Daoud believed he could benefit from Soviet aid and limit Soviet espionage. His
decision to accept Soviet advisers, along with Soviet economic and military support, was a radical
departure from the policies of the older Musahiban generation. His Pashtunistan policy corresponds with
the Soviet strategy to weaken America’s containment of the USSR, and Kruschev publicly back Daoud’s
Pashunistan cause.
The Soviet Union considered Daoud an asset so they endeavored to keep him in power. Soviet
intelligence instructed the small but growing Afghan communist movement not to oppose Daoud. They
wanted him to survive. A pro-Soviet Afghanistan would keep the American system of alliances away
from Soviet borders in Central Asia, and Daoud’s Pashtunistan policy usefully irritated an American ally,
Pakistan. Nevertheless,it was Daoud’s insistence on Pastunistan that ultimately led to his fall from power
in 1963.
In 1960, Daoud sent Afghan troops disguised as tribesman across the border into Pakistan’s Bajaur
tribal agency northwest of Peshawar. The intrusion, into an area where the Durand Line was not well-
defined, was driven back by local Bajaur Pashtun tribes who opposed any interference in their affairs
from Afghanistan or Pakistan. Pakistan’s military dictator, General Ayub Khan, closed Pakistan’s
consulates at Kandahar and Jalalabad and insisted that Afghanistan shut down its consulates in Peshawar
and Quetta. Not backing down, Daoud gave Ayub one week to cancelhis actions. Ayub Kan let Daoud’s
deadline expired. He then escalated tensions by blocking all trade routes across the Durand Line. This
Pakistani blockade severed Afghanistan’s main economic and trade corridors to the outside world.
Long standing resentment against Daoud’s autocratic rule, close Soviet ties and economic downturn
due to the blockade led to calls for his retirement. Daoud chose this moment would expand his already
considerable powers. When Zahir Shah rejected his proposal, Daoud angrily submitted his resignation to
the king. For the first time since ascending to the throne in 1933, Afghanistan’s mild-mannered monarch
now had the mandate to rule as well as to reign.
Older Afghans who experienced Zahir Shah’s new democracy period (1961-1973) consider it the
high point of the half-century era of tranquility existing before the 1978 communist coup. Kabul’s liberal
educated elite and rural tribal khans came together under his leadership to form a constitutional coalition.
They charted a democratic trail without the kind of direct encouragement the United States gave to
Germany, Japan, and South Korea in the 1940s and 1950s.

Galasinao4
Daoud had spent a decade out of power. But it was during this decade that he was preparing his
comeback against cousin. He had proven his usefulness to the Soviet Union during his decade as prime
minister. The Soviet Union helped Daoud create a nighttime coup on July 17, 1923, where Daoud
managed to rule once again.
But Daoud’s good relationship with the Soviet Union did not last. He must of been aware that
Moscow had swiftly abandoned allies, as it did in 1977 by halting arms shipments to Somalia during the
Ogaden War. He ended up lowering Afghanistan’s dependence on the Soviet Union, shifting Afghan
foreign policy back to Zahir Shah’s genuine neutrality.
As a result, the PDPA (a Soviet Union supported communist party of Afghanis) ended up creating a
communist coup to overthrow Daoud. The people who overthrew Daoud in person were a few hundred
communist juinior officers. They were made officers of the Khalqi Air force so they were called
Khalquis.
On April 28 1978, around 4:00 a.m, the last remnant of some two hundred Presidential Guards laid
down their arms. Inside the palace, Daoud placed his twenty-four family members who chose to remain
with him in the living room on the ground floor. They were unarmed. Daoud hoped they would be spared.
He occupied a protocol room next door to the living room, unholstered his pistol, and he waited for the
Khalqis. When the Khalqis invaded the Presidential Palace,they massacred Daoud and most of the people
in the living room. Only seve people survived.
In A Thousand Splendid Suns, we hear Mariam and Rasheed listening to the coup. It is at the time
that the communists had won the coup, it was declared:
“A revolutionairy council of the armed forces has been established, and our watan will now be
known as the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan,” Abdul Qader said. “The era of aristocracy,nepotism,
and inequality is over, fellow hamwatans. We have ended decades of tyranny. Power is now in the hands
of the masses and freedom loving people. A glorious new era in the history of our country is afoot. A new
Afghanistan is born. We assure you that you have nothing to fear, fellow Afghans. The new regime will
maintain the utmost respect for principles, both Islamic and democratic. This is a time of rejoicing and
celebration.”
Rasheed turned off the radio.
“So is this good or bad?” Mariam asked.
“Bad for the rich, by the sound of it,” Rasheed said. “Maybe not so bad for us.”
Coup in Iran
During World War II, Allied troops maintained their control in Iran, and the powers of the Pahlavi
government were severely limited. But Mohammad Reza Shah had confirmed at his coronation that he
would rule as a constitutional monarch, and in 1944 elections were held for the first genuinely
representative Majies since the 1920s. Many familiar figures from the constitutionalist period reappeared-
notably Seyyed Zia Tabataba’I and Mohammad Mossadeq, as well as some of the same nationalist
landowners who had been active before Reza Khan became shah. They had just grown older.

Galasinao5
In 1949, Tudeh members (Communists) were accused of instigating an assassination attempt against
the young shah. After that the party was banned, and could only make its influence felt through
underground activity or through sympathetic writers and journalists. The United States,profiting from the
unpopularity of the Russians’ unpopularity, increased its presence by bringing in advisers and technicians
and by supplying training assistance to the army, as well as other aid. Nationalist feeling was gratified by
the restoration of Iranian territorial integrity in Azerbaijan, and attention turned back to other grievances-
especially to the question of oil.
The 1949 assassination attempt against the Shah initiated an extended period of crisis,
demonstrations, and martial law. In 1950 the shah appointed a new prime minister, Ali Razmara, but
Razmara was not popular; he was suspected of pro-British sympathies, and his military background
encouraged concern that the shah intended a return to the militaristic, autocratic style of government his
father had favored in the 1930s. Over the same period, Mohammed Mossadeq assembled a broad
coalition of Majiles deputies that came to be called for oil nationalization, and Mossadeq was also widely
believed to have reached an accommodation with Tudeh. The shah’s government attempted to negotiate
with the AIOC for a revision of the terms of the oil concession, but the AIOC were slow to accept the
fifty-fifty split of profits that had become the norm in oil agreements elsewhere in the world. The National
Front and its demand for oil nationalization were greatly strengthened in Majiles elections in 1950, and in
March 1951 Razmara were assassinated by the same extremist Islamic group that had murdered Kasravi.
It was inevitable that Mossadeq, as the most popular politician in the country, would become prime
minister.
Mossadeq ended up becoming Iran’s prime minister on April 28. Under his leadership, Iranian oil
ended up becoming nationalized. But unfortunately, nationalization created an impasse, as British
technicians left the oil installations in Khuzestan, and the British government imposed a blockade. Iranian
oil could not be exploited. As a result, there were economic problems.
So he traveled to the U.S. in the hopes of getting a loan but he was refused. U.S. oil companies joined
in the boycott of the oil.
Despite deepening economic difficulties and the disappointing realization that he could expect no help
from the U.S. in his confrontation with the British, Mossadeq continued as prime minister, enjoying
massive support both in Maijles and in the country itself.
Finally in 1953, a plan went ahead. Mossadeq was to be replaced as prime minister with Gerneral
Zahedi, a fervent monatchist. But the plan failed. Mossadeq managed to discover the coup. Tudeh
probably though was able to forestall it. The shah fled the country and anti-royalist rioting broke out.
Mossadeq sent in police and troops to control the riots, and the succeeded,but also alienated Mossadeq’s
supporters including the Tudeh,
So when a new demonstration occurred two days later, against Mossadeq, his supporters stayed away.
This demonstration included supporters of Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani-previously loyal to the
National Front, but now on the other side-from the bazaar,and people paid to participate by the CIA,
which had given the coup the code name Operation Ajax. In the end, Mossadeq was arrested,the army
and Zahedi were in control, and the shah returned.

Galasinao6
The coup could not have happened without the intervention of the British SIS (Security Intelligence
Service) and the American CIA. The two spy agencies came up with the strategy to stage a mass
demonstration in the streets of Tehran. The protesters,who were paid to protest using MI6 and CIA
funds, were depicted as Tudeh (Iran’s communist party) supporters in the media. This way the military,
supplied with guns, trucks and cars from the US military, would have a “suitable pretext” for coming into
the city - to save Iran, a very religious society, from the threat of takeover by the godless communists.
This strategy was carried out successfully.
4. Communist Afghanistan and Imperial Iran
One can compare the countries of communist Afghanistan and the Shah’s Iran to one another bcause they
are both countries that were loyal to a superpower. Afghanistan was loyal to the Soviet Union, and the
Shah’s Iran was loyal to Iran.
Communist Afghanistan
After Daoud’s government was overthrown, The communist ‘People's Democratic Party of
Afghanistan (PDPA)’ gained control. On May 1, Nur Mohammed Taraki became President. The country
was then renamed the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA). Once in power, the party moved to
permit freedom of religion and place agricultural resources under state control. They also made a number
of ambitious statements on women's rights and waived the farmer’s debts countrywide. The majority of
people in the cities including Kabul either welcomed it or were ambivalent to these policies. However, the
secular nature of the government made it unpopular with religiously conservative Afghans in the villages
and the countryside, who favored traditional Islamic restrictions on women's rights and in daily life.
She said that the Soviet Union was the best nation in the world, along with Afghanistan. It was kind
to its workers,and its people were all equal. Everyone in the Soviet Union was happy and friendly, unlike
America, where crime made people afraid to leave their homes. And everyone in Afghanistan would be
happy too, she said, once the antiprogressives, the backward bandits were defeated.
“That’s why our Soviet comrades came here in 1979. To lend their neighbor a hand. To help us defeat
these brutes who want our country to be a backward, primitive nation. And you must lend your own hand,
children. You must report anyone who night know about these rebels. It’s your duty. You must listen,
then report. Even if it’s your parents, your uncles or aunts. Because none of them loves you as much as
your country does. Your country comes first, remember! I will be proud of you, and so will your
country.”
Women have always had it hard in this country, Laila, but they’re probably more free now, under the
communists, and have more rights than they’re ever had before, Babi said, always lowering his voice,
aware of how intolerant Mammy was of even remotely positive talk of the communists. But it is true,
Babi said, it is a good time to be a woman in Afghanistan. Amd you can take advantage of that, Laila. Of
course, women’s freedom-here, he shook his head ruefully-is also one of the reasons people out there took
up arms in the first place. (p. 135)
But of course,equality did not reign throughout Afghanistan. It was only in the big cities because
strict Muslim men were dominant in the countryside; it was there that women were controlled by the men.

Galasinao7
It was in big cities like Kabul that women taught at the university, ran schools, held office in the
government. Laila’s teacher was a woman.
Imperial Iran
The Mossadeq coup ended the pluralism that had begun with the fall of Reza Shah in 1941, and
inaugurated an extended period in which Mohammad Reza Shah ruled personally with few constitutional
limitations. The oil dispute was resolved with an arrangement that gave the Iranian government fifty
percent of the profits, out of a consortium in which the U.S. companies had a forty percent stake,now
equal to that held by the AIOC (renamed British Petroleum in 1954-BP). The increased oil revenue,
which grew as the industry developed, permitted a big expansion of government expenditure.
After the coup, the shah’s government kept a tight grip on politics. Candidates for the elections to the
eighteenth Majiles in 1954 were selected by the regime, and assembly proved duly obedient. In 1955, the
shah dismissed Zahedi and effectively took control into his own hands. Mossadeq’s National Front was
disbanded, and Tudeh sympathizers (Tudeh members were Iranian communists; they made up the
communist party, the Tudeh party) were relentlessly pursued by the security agency, SAVAK (known by
this name since 1957).
Despite our oppressive and cruel Iran was,the people still managed to live in peace and happiness. If
you were not against the government, the government left you alone. Also, Western culture was not
banned or illegal. It influenced the nation. People, especially women, could wear Western clothing, they
could eat and drink Western foods and drinks, they could watch Hollywood movies, and read Western
books.
We see in Prisoner of Tehran, Marina living out life peacefully. She reads books in friend’s bookstore
and she borrows them too, she goes with her parents to a cottage during the summer, she goes to a party,
she gets a boyfriend, Arash.
But in time, Marina becomes aware of the political unrest in her country. During her trip in the
cottage, her aunt notices all the books she reads. She accuses her of being in the revolution and says that it
won’t work out. She says that it will be a failure like Russian Revolution. She doesn’t mean that the
revolution will fail, that the government will crush it. No, she means that even if the revolutionaries win,
they will impose tyranny upon the people.
Russia and Iran are similar. The two countries were both monarchies. Russia was led by the Czar
Nicolas II, and Iran was led by the Shah Reza. But eventually, there were revolutionaries in the nation.
Russia had the communists. Iran had the radical Muslims. The revolutionaries and the people supported
them believed that where going to establish a utopia where the government would be good and the people
would live in happiness and peace. The communists wanted to make Russia a communist country, and the
radical Muslims wanted to make Iran a theocratic country (a religious country). Each revolution in Russia
and Iran ended up being won by the revolutionaries but the country they established was no utopias. They
were dystopias; in each changed country; in fact they were worse the previous countries. In the Soviet
Union, and in Khomeini’s Iran, there was death of the opposition, the rise of the leader’s tyrants; Russia
had Joseph Stalin, Iran had Khomeini, people were forced to obey their nation, they didn’t have much
freedom, and those who were against the nations were executed.

Galasinao8
In communism, people are said to be equal. This includes men and women; men and women are
equal. So, there is equality between men and women. No gender is dominant than the other. So when
Afghanistan becomes a communist country, there is equality.
Babi acknowledges this equality:
“Women have always had it hard in this country, Laila,but they’re probably more free now, under the
communists, and have more rights than they’re ever had before, Babi said, always lowering his voice,
aware of how intolerant Mammy was of even remotely positive talk of the communists. But it is true,
Babi said, it is a good time to be a woman in Afghanistan. Amd you can take advantage of that, Laila. Of
course, women’s freedom-here, he shook his head ruefully-is also one of the reasons people out there
took up arms in the first place.” (p. 135)
But of course,equality did not reign throughout Afghanistan. It was only in the big cities because
strict Muslim men were dominant in the countryside; it was there that women were controlled by the men.
It was in big cities like Kabul that women taught at the university, ran schools, held office in the
government.
5. War
Another reason on why Afghanistan and Iran are similar is because the newly changed nations of
communist Afghanistan, and Islamic Iran, go into war when they are still young. Communist Afghanistan
ends having the Soviet War in Afghanistan (The Soviet Union vs the Mujahideen; an anti-communist
Islamic militant organization), and Iran has the Iran-Iraq War (Iran vs Saddam’s Iraq; Saddam Hussein
was an ally of the United States at the time). You can also compare the Iran-Iraq war with the Civil War
in Afghanistan and the current War in Afghanistan because radicalMuslims are participating in them.
The Soviet War in Afghanistan
Mammy knows important men of the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen are the anti-Soviet, Western
supported, Islamic rag tag organization of Afghanis.
There was Dostum, the flamboyant Uzbek commander, leader of the Junbish-i-Milli faction, who had a
reputation for shifting allegiances. The intense, surly Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Hezb-e-Islami
faction, a Pashtun who had studied engineering and once killed a Maoist student. Rabbani, Tajik leader of
the Jamiat-e-Islami faction, who had taight Islam at Kabul University in the days of the monarchy.
Sayyaf, a Pashtun from Paghman with Arab connections, a stout Muslim and leader of the Ittehad –Islami
faction. Abdul Ali Mazari, leader of the Hizb-e-Wahdat faction, known as Babi Mazari among his fellow
Hazaras, with strong Shi’a ties to Iran.
And, of course, there was Mammy’s hero, Rabbani’s ally, the brooding, charismatic Tajik commander
Ahmad Shah Massoud, lion of Panjshir. Mammy had nailed up a poster of him in her room. Massoud’s
handsome, thoughtful face, eyebrow cocked and trademark pakol tilted, would become ubiquitous in
Kabul. His soulful black eyes would gaze back from billboards, walls, storefront windows, from little
flags mounted on the antennas of taxicabs.

Galasinao9
Once this war over, these men, who were allies, end up becoming enemies because of ethic
differences. Their forces fight against each other thus creating the Civil War in Afghanistan.
The Soviet Union feared that the Afghanistan leader Amin would be overthrown by the Mujahideen
so they invaded Afghanistan to make sure they wouldn’t rule the nation. By the late afternoon of
December 27, Soviet troops had secured most of Kabul. The moment had come to deliver the coup de
main to Amin’s regime. Two coup members of Amin’s quam, Abdullah Amin and Assadullah Amin, his
brother and nephew, respectively, had already been picked off. From Moscow, Andropov and Kryuchov
closely monitored the closing of the ring around Amin. Soon, Soviet military and KGB forces had
captured Kabul. Karmal would soon move into the presidential palace with the Soviet advisers and
guards. But neither the Soviets nor Karmal controlled the countryside. More important, the Soviet’s
leadership’s assumption that the Karmal government supported by the 40th
Army and the KGB would
pacify Afghanistan was a fantasy.
“This was back in March 1979, about nine months before the Soviets invaded. Some angry Herats
killed a few Soviet advisers, so the Soviets sent in tanks and helicopters and pounded this place. For three
days, hamshira, they fired on the city. They collapsed buildings, destroyed one of the minarets, killed
thousands of people. Thousands
Now, Laila’s brothers, Ahmad and Noor went to fight in the war. Babi and Mammy had been at odds
with letting them fight. Babi wanted them to fight because they wanted to but Mammy refused to.
Though, she ends up letting them go. With the two fighting in the war, Babi and Mammy end up fighing,
Mammy spends most of her time lying in her bed depressed, and she shows most of her love towards her
sons but not her daughter; she doesn’t even spend too much time with her.
Though, Laila isn’t really upset that her brothers died. She doesn’t feel sadness. It’s because she
didn’t really meet her brothers. She had been born when they were fighting.
Unfortunately, during this war,Laila’s brothers, Ahmad and Noor, get killed. One day, a man appears
at their door. He tells Babi of the death of their sons. Babi is quite upset, and Mammy who had been
listening upstairs screams in horror. She ends up blaming Babi for their deaths. She continues to stay in
room out of depression. Now since the two had been Mujahideen fighters, there were given (put).
Also, Mammy believes that her dead sons had become martys and she wants the Mujahideen to win
against the Soviets so they would not have died in vain.
During this war, the U.S. decided to help the Mujahideen defeat the Soviet Union, after all the
U.S.S.R. was their archenemy; they called the U.S.S.R. the evil empire, and they didn’t want the Soviet
Union expanding their influence in Asia. So, they ended up sending weaponry like guns; specifically
AK47s, to the Mujahideen. Since the U.S. helped, the Mujideen continued to keep winning.
But it was just American aid that led to Mujahideen’s victory; they also ended up winning because of
how many determine men there were fighting in this war. When one soldier was killed, they were others
to take his place. Another reason they one was because they knew the geography of their nation better
than the Soviets; they knew the Afghanistan’s deserts, caves,and mountains. They were able to adapt to
their surroundings. The Soviets didn’t have any clear idea on how to travel the land or where to find and
locate Mujahideen soldiers.

Galasinao10
In A Thousand Splendid Suns, we hear Tariq acknowledge how the Soviets are losing once he spots
them.
The driver pulled his taxi over to let pass another long convoy of Soviet jeeps and armoured vehicles.
Tariq leaned across the front seat,over the driver, and yelled, “Pajalusta!Pajalusta!”
A jeep honked and Tariq whistled back, beaming and waving cheerfully, “Lovely guns!” he yelled.
“Fabulous jeeps!” Fabulous army! Too bad you’re losing to a bunch of peasants firing slingshots!” (p.
171)
The Civil War in Afghanistan
For three years after the Soviet troop withdrawal, Najib’s refusalto relinquish his grip on power to
non-communist regime had impeded a political settlement. Now he was trying avert a civil war and to
save himself but his situation was dangerous. His army was disintegrating. Tajik generals were defecting
to Masood, most Pashtun generals to Hekmatyar. A Masood-Hekmatyar battle could plunge the country
into an ethnic civil war between Pashtuns and Tajiks.
Najib was trapped. He could not go forward. It was not safe to retrace his steps to the presidential
palace. Hostile generals were monitoring his every step. He knew that his life was in danger. He could no
longer trust his own secret police.
In Najib’s presense,the Pakistan offered asylum to Najib in Pakistan. The Iranian assured Najib that
Iran would restrain Iranian supported Mujahidin from creating instability in Kabul. Struggling to contain
his outrage, Najib brushed aside the fraudulent assurances of his long-standing enemies.
Eventually, war occurred in Afghanistan. Once war had ended, but a new one began to take its place.
There was actualfighting between the warlords in Kabul. Kabul had not faced war since 1929. Guns were
fired, rockets were shot. The armies brought fear and death to the people, destruction to the land, rape to
the women.
Laila may not have felt depression over the deaths of her brothers, Ahmad and Noor, but she
experiences when her friend Giti dies. Giti had been her childhood friend and was planning, though
young, to marry her boyfriend who was a soccer player.
Also, Mammy who recently became happy once Naijullah was thrust from power goes back to being
in a state of misery. She goes back to her room and takes naps.
Tariq ends feeling as if he must protect Laila from any dangerous men. He ends up owning a gun to
defend himself and her.
There’s also the fact that the war brings a lack of electricity to Kabul. Laila knows that there isn’t any
light available in her home.
The civil war in Afghanistan got incredibly dangerous so Laila’s parents, Babi and Mammy, decided
to leave the country and move to Pakistan. Unfortunately, neither of them don’t get to leave because a
rocket hits their home. Laila gets severely injured but manages to live but she is taken off by Mariam and
Rasheed. Her parents,on the other hand, get killed.

Galasinao11
Eventually, in 1996, the civil war ends because the Taliban, an organization of radical Muslim militants
end up defeating the armies of the warlords. The warlords are forced to flee to other counties like
Pakistan.
Iran-Iraq War
In September 1980, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Iran thus creating and eight-year war and
intensifying pressure on then Iranian regime. The origin of this war is unknown-whether Saddam attacked
Iran when it was at its weakest in order to gain land to put right to a border dispute or when Iranian
propaganda was directed at starting a revolution among Iraqi Shi’as left him with little choice to attack.
Iraqi gains at the beginning of the war caused huge damage in Khuzestan and the flight of hundreds
of thousands of refugees,were wiped out by Iranian counter offensive in the spring of 1982, which
recaptured Khorramshar and forced Saddam to withdraw to the border. But the Iranians then amplified
their war aims, demanding the removal of Saddam and huge war reparations.
Beginning in 1984, Saddam attacked Iranian shipping in the Persian Gulf, trying to damage Iran’s oil
exports. The Iranians responded in kind, resulting in what became known as the Tanker War. The United
States and other non-combatant nations moved ships into the Persian Gulf to protect shipping in
international waters.
Then, there was a stalemate that occurred in the land war. Iranians and Iraqis bombarded each other’s
capitals and other towns with long range missiles and with bombs dropped from aircraft, killing many
civilians (the War of the Cities).
In the end, the terrible cost of war was mounting. Khomeini was persuaded by Majiles Speaker Akbar
HasemiRafsanjani to accept what he called the chalice of poison. Khomeini allowed President Khamenei
to announce in July 1988 that Iran would accept UN resolution 598, which called for a cease-fire.
In Prisoner of Tehran, we hear Marina speak about this war:
“The IRAN-IRAQ war began in September 1980. I was back in the city. I had gone to a friend’s
house, an we were sitting in her kitchen, having tea and rice cookies. She was showing me her new pair of
Puma running shoes, which were white with red stripes on either side. Suddenly two deep booms
interrupted our talk. They sounded like explosions. We were home alone.”
Ali was a soldier in the Iran-Iraq War. He went to fight in it to forget about Marina. But of course,he
could not forget about her. In time, he gets shot. But he’s happy about it because he gets to be with
Marina.
Also, Andre and Marina end up leaving their home in Tehran because the war has made it a very
dangerous place to live in. They end up moving to the city, (put name), a city in southeastern Iran. Marina
and Andre see it as safe because it is far away from the war. Also, it is where Andre went to teach at the
University of Zehedan. “He was very busy with his job. He was either teaching, or when he was home, he
was preparing for his classes and correcting papers (p. 264). A reason he ended up teaching there was so
that he could avoid fighting in the Iran-Iraq War.
6. Obstacles

Galasinao12
In A Thousand Splendid Suns and Prisoner of Tehran,the main characters of Laila, Mariam, and
Marina all end up facing obstacles in their Islamic countries. They face these obstacles because they are
women. They live in Islamic worlds where the men are dominant; women are forced to obey the men,
women are weak compared to the men. These obstacles are being forced to wear certain clothes, being
forced to marry, being forced to lose their virginity, being unable to be with the men they love, and facing
imprisonment.
Mariam and Laila
Even before the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, women were still forced to wear certain clothes. Mariam,
for instance, is forced to wear a burqua.
“Mariam had never before worn a burqua. Rasheed had to help her put it on. The padded headpiece
felt tight and heavy on her skull, and it was strange seeing the world through a mesh screen. She practiced
walking around her room in it and kept stepping on the hem and stumbling. The loss of peripheral vision
was unnerving, and she did not like the suffocating way the pleated cloth kept pressing against her
mouth” (p. 72).
When Laila moves in with the two, she is also forced to wear a burqua.
Mariam and Laila are both forced to marry the shoe maker, Rasheed. Rasheed was originally married
but his wife died. They also had their own child, a boy, but he died as well because he drowned in a pool;
Rasheed had been sleeping. Mariam was forced to marry Rasheed by Jahil and his many wives. Mariam is
quite angry with this decision. When he calls upon Jahil to defend her, he tells her,. Eventually, Mariam
and Rasheed get married and Mariam moves to Rasheed’s home, Kabul. There, Mariam must do many
things for Rasheed like cook for him, clean for him, and have sex with him. Yes, Mariam ended up losing
her virginity to Rasheed. The experience was not pleasant.
Since the two had sex, Mariam ends up getting pregnant. Rasheed is full of joy to know that she’s
pregnant. Although, he wants the baby to be a male. But his joy is destroyed once the baby dies; Mariam
had been in a bathhouse where Laila’s mom had seen her. Mariam and Rasheed end up having more sex
to have more babies but each baby dies. The death of these babies leads Rasheed to be mean and abusive
to Mariam because he feels as if she’s the reason why they can’t have children. So one night, he finds her
rice to be too wet. Mariam told him that she had left it cooking. Rasheed ends up throwing it away and
leaves. Mariam gets down on her knees to clean the mess. But Rasheed hasn’t left her. He comes back
holding pebbles. He forces Mariam to eat them. Mariam does and she ends up breaking her teeth. “Good,”
Rasheed said. His cheeks were quivering. “Now you know what your rice tastes like. Now you know
what you’ve given me in this marriage. Bad food, and nothing else (p. 104).”
Laila and Tariq had been childhood friends. They were really good friends. When Tariq tells Laila
that he has to leave for a while, Laila gets really upset. She longs for his return. Eventually, he does
return. Now during his absence,a bully of Laila had sprayed pee unto Laila with his water gun. When
Laila tells him of this incident, though Tariq has an artificial leg, he fights the bully for Laila. The bully
never bothers Laila again. Now as good friends, the two of them had spent time together; they talk with
each other, walk each other. They go to the Buddha statues and to a movie theatre.

Galasinao13
Of course,the two don’t remain friends forever. Eventually, they develop feelings of love for each
other. Even other people wonder if the two are a couple; like Rasheed for instance. Laila’s love for Tariq
is seen when the two of them are at a movie theatre together. The two of them observe a kissing couple.
Then, Laila suddenly wonders what it would be like to kiss Tariq and what his mustache would feel like
on her face. When they are older, Tariq states to the older Laila that he only as eyes for her. The two
ended up having sex; the both of them lose their virginity. Unfortunately, because of the war in
Afghanistan gets to dangerous, Tariq and his family have to move away.
When Laila becomes injured and her two parents are killed when a rocket hits their home, Mariam
and Rasheed take her to their home to nurse her back to health; they provide her with food and medicine.
Soon, she manages to get better.
Also a man named Abdul Sharif went to Laila to tell her that Tariq had become injured by a bomb and
died of his injury. He said that he had become good friends with Tariq. But one day, he found out that he
was gone; his absence signified his death. Tariq’s death makes Laila extremely upset.
Since Tariq and Laila had made love, Laila ended up getting pregnant. She ends up getting married to
Rasheed in order to provide a safe home to her child. It is dangerous outside.
Now at first, Mariam and Rasheed do not like each other. Mariam believes that Laila is trying to steal
Laila from her. She also demands Laila to work. Laila, on the other hand, finds Mariam to be a bully,
pushy, strict. They end up having fights.
Rasheed likes Laila more than Mariam. He compares them to cars. Laila is a Benz, Mariam is a
Volga. A Volga is a Soviet made car; it said to not be a good car. Rasheed sees Laila as more beautiful
and new than Mariam. When Rasheed and Laila are about to make love, when Rasheed sees Laila’s nude
young body, he comments on how much he is in love with her.
Soon, Rasheed realizes that Laila is pregnant. He believes the child to be his. When the child is born,
he is not pleased with it because it is a girl. Rasheed didn’t want a girl; he preferred a boy. Since Laila
provided Rasheed with a girl, Rasheed is no longer kind to her. Mariam ends up feeling sorry for her.
Now, this girl of Laila and Tariq is named Azizah. Mariam and Laila like her but Rasheed does not. He
ends up calling her a thing.
Later in the novel, it is revealed that everything Abdul had told Laila; Tariq’s death, his friendship
with Tariq, was all a lie. Laila suddenly realizes that Rasheed must have paid Abdul Sharif to tell Laila
that Tariq had died when he was still alive. This was done so that Laila would be able to marry him
easily. He didn’t want Laila’s love for Tariq to keep her away from Rasheed.
Rasheed is so furious that Tariq had visited Laila, that the two had spoken to each other for the first
time in years,so he tries to kill her. He ends up choking her. Mariam who doesn’t want to see her friend
killed ends up killing Rasheed by banging him with a shovel to save her. The two of them are aware that
the Taliban would have the two of them killed for killing him.
Marina
Women in Islamic Iran, including Marina, must wear the hejab.

Galasinao14
“Wearing the hejab wasn’t yet mandatory, but it seemed as if rules were about to change. Hejab is a
Arabic word that means proper cover for a woman’s body. It can have different forms, one of which is the
chador for a woman’s body. It can have different forms, one of which is the chador. After the hejab
became mandatory, in big cities, especially Tehran, instead of wearing the chador, most women wore
loose, long robes called the Islamic manteaux and covered their hair with large scarves; if worn properly,
this was also an acceptable form of hejab.”
After fighting in the Iran-Iraq war, Ali comes back to Evin to tell Marina something very important.
He tells her that he left Evin because he had developed feelings for Marina. He tried to ignore but they
only got stronger. When he had found her on the bathroom door, he had become extremely worried about
her. Also, when she was to be executed,he argued with Hahmed for her to be let go. But Hahmed refused.
So Ali had to ask Khomeini himself to Marina go. Ali’s father had been close with Khomeini.
After meeting with the Ayatollah, Ali went off to fight in the war to forget about her. But he found
himself thinking about her all the time. He also said that he was glad to be shot because that gave him a
reason for him to come back to her. His father had always told him to think on a decision before acting on
it. He had thought about marrying Marina for four months and then he chose to marry her.
When Marina refuses to marry Ali, he threatens her that he will kill Andre. She doesn’t want Andre to
face death so she decided to marry him.
After Marina and Ali marry, Ali forces Mariam to have sex with him. The sex is more like a rape. It’s
not good at all for Marina. She states that her insides burn.
The married life of Marina and Ali is not really that bad, compared with the married polygamous life
of Rasheed,Mariam, and Laila. They end up living in this big home with a lot of good stuff; furniture, a
garden, rooms. Ali is even kind to Marina because he has love towards her.
Though, there was an event where Ali ended up hitting Marina because he said that he hated him when
she found out that Ali had actually killed people. Ali didn’t say anything but she knew by his silence that
he did kill people. Still, despite this, Ali manages to be kind towards Marina.
Later,it is learned to Marina must still remain in Evin. It is there that Marina decides to be with dying
or frightened prisoners. Ali allows this to happen.
During their marriage, Ali had loved Marina but Marina did not love him back. She felt like she was
Ali’s prisoner. Still, she managed to like and care about him.
Their marriage does not last forever. When Ali and Marina leave the home of Ali’s parents,a man
riding a motorcycle approaches him. Ali pushes Marina away and he ends up getting shot by that man.
That man was an assassin, a hired killer. Ali ends up falling on top of Marina. Due to his wounds, he is
dying. Marina does not want him to die. Before he dies, he tells his parents to send Marina back to her
parents. Then, he dies.
Marina ended up having a baby with Ali but it died because Marina had a miscarriage. After Ali had
died, Marina had gone to sleep out of shock. She ended up having a dream where she encountered the
Angel of Death and her own baby.

Galasinao15
Also, Marina is in good terms with Ali’s family. Even when Marina had to convert to Islam because
her parents wanted her to convert. Still, their relationship is good. Marina comments that her relationship
is much better with them than her real biological parents. She comments how they are more loving and
open with her. Her parents aren’t really open with her, they don’t really talk much. After Ali had died,
they fought for her release from Evin; they had to deal with Hahmed. Luckily, they did manage to free
Marina. They even manage to spend some time together. Marina had thought that she would end up back
in prison but instead, she meant Ali’s parents,her former parents in law. They went to Ali’s burial spot.
The guards were not the only ones to worry about; there was also the Hezbollah, groups of fanatical
civilians armed with knives and clubs, who attacked any kind of public protest. They were everywhere
and could become organized in a matter of minutes. They were especially violent towards women who
didn’t wear the hejab properly. Many women had been showing from under their scarves.
In January 15, 1982, Marina ends up being arrested and sent to Iran, notorious prison Evin. Evin is
where political prisoners of the Shah’s Iran and Islamic Iran had been sent. In there, people were jailed,
tortured, raped, or even killed. Marina, though no political activist, had been sent there because she had
expressed anti-revolutionary ideas in school and written anti-government articles in the school’s
newspaper. In Evin, the people must be blindfolded as they walk the prison. It is only when they are in a
certain spot that they get to take off their blindfold. It is Evin that she encounters Ali, a guard, and
Hahmed. Since she would not reveal the name of her friends; her friends were considered threats to the
Islamic regime, she ends up having her feet lashed by Hahmed. Then, she and others are driven to an
certain spot to be executed. Fortunately, Marina does not get shot. She just has to stay in the prison.
Marina ends up meeting with Hahmed again. He insults her by saying that she will stay in Evin
forever but when she states that God will help her, Hahmed hesitates for a moment but then he slaps her.
He yells to her that he has to wash his hands because she’s unclean. During the rest of her time, she
makes friends with the other prisoners, she meets her friend, Sarah, who committed suicide by hanging
herself, she does work, and she spends time with other prisoners; one a dying girl and those who are
frightened to be imprisoned in Evin.
The reason that radical Muslims are so strict with women is because of how they follow Islam. Islam
itself isn’t bad to women. It is the fault of the followers. To the believers, Islam is the only source and
guardian of traditional collective morality. Also, sexual morality is largely about women and about
regulating female behaviour. This is so because a man’s honor is dependent on the behaviour of the
women related to him.
In Islam, the Qur’an requires women to cover their hair and behave in a self-controlled, modest
manner. The Qur’an, however, identifies only the hair as needing to be covered. Covering the face,body,
and hands developed later as cultural customs derived from the need for modesty. Requiring a woman to
completely cover her body in public was not originally part of Islam, but this practice is observed in many
Arab nations.
In Islamic nations, when teens girls or women go out in public, their culture (and in some cases,their
law) requires them to wear clothing that covers their bodies, arms,legs, ankles, and hair. Muslims
consider it inappropriate for a female to revealthe shape of her body to anyone other than her immediate
family members or husband (if she is married). They believe that men naturally respond to a woman’s

Galasinao16
hair, body, skin, and smell, and if a woman reveals these to a man, she causes him to act out sexually
toward her.” (p. 60)
The issue of women is not marginal; it lies at the heart of Islamic Occidentalism.
Occidentalism is like Orientalism. Orientalism is how the West views the East. The East through the
eyes of the West is seen as an exotic land that includes Eastern lands like the Middle East and Asia. There
are Eastern stereotypes like samurai, wise Asian masters who teach young students how to fight, genies,
and flying carpets.
Occidentalism is the opposite. It is how the East sees the West. Through the eyes of the East,the West
is seen as modern. Though being seen as modern is not good. The modern thing was said to be a
European thing. There was much talk about unhealthy specialization in knowledge, which had splintered
the wholeness of Oriental spiritual culture. Science and capitalism were to blame.
Also, contemporary forms of Occidentalism are equally focused on America, it should be pointed that
anti-Americanism is sometimes the result of specific American policies-support of anti-Communist
dictatorships, say, or of Israel, or of multinational corporations, or the IMF, or whatever goes under the
rubric of “globalization,” which is normally used as shorthand for U.S. imperialism.
Occidentalism is also an idea, a vision of the Western society as a machinelike society without a
human soul. So anti-Americanism plays a large role in views of the hostile West. Sometimes it even
represents the West. Also, Western society was diminished to a mass of soulless, decadent, money-
grubbing, rootless, faithless, unfeeling parasites; this is a form of intellectual destruction.
7. Osama Bin Laden and Ruhollah Khomeini
We can compare Osama Bin Laden and Khomeini to one another because they are both strict radical
Muslim men, former powerful leaders, followed by radical Muslims, and they were at odds with the
Western world.
Osama Bin Laden
Osama Bin Laden was born on October 3, 1957 in Saudi Arabia. He came from a wealthy Saudi
Arabian family of Yemeni origin. Bin Laden’s father gained his wealth as the owner of one the major
construction firms in Saudi Arabia, and Osama bin Laden himself was trained in construction
engineering.
In 1979, Osama Bin Laden joined the Mujahideen to fight the Soviets. He ended up becoming a
commander. He was ally with the United States.
After the war ended, in time, he created the terrorist organization, Al Qaeda. He was not fond of the
United States. He disliked the presence like military bases, crimes like proxy wars,and Westernization
that the United States brought to the Middle East.
Osama Bin Laden was accused of the following crimes: the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center,
the 1995 truck bombing of a Saudi National Guard training center,and the 1998 explosions at U.S.

Galasinao17
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He ended up being added to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitive" list
after the embassy attacks.
Also, Osama Bin Laden, along with captured suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, bin Laden planned
the September 2001 attacks that crippled the Pentagon and destroyed New York's World Trade Center.
He spoke about the attacks:
The values of this Western civilization under the leadership of America have been destroyed. Those
awesome symbolic towers that speak of liberty, human rights, and humanity have been destroyed. They
have gone up in smoke.
Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini was born in September 1902 in Khomein, a small town between Isafahan and
Tehran. He came from a family of seyyed (descendents of the Prophet) whose patriarchs had been
mullahs for many generations, and may originally have come from Nishapur. Ruhollah grew up in
Khomeini through the turbulent years of the Constitutional Revolution and the First World War, over
which period Khomeini was raided a number of times by Lori tribesmen. In 1918 his mother died in a
cholera epidemic, leaving him an orphan as he was about to enter the seminary nearby in Soltanabad. It is
possible that the absence of a father and being an orphan added impetus to the young Khomeini’s
ambition and drive to excelin his studies. Later he moved to Qom, where as a student of Shaykh
Abdolkarim Ha’erihe wore the black turban of seyyed. In Qom, he received the conventional education
in logic and religious law of mullah becoming a mojtahed in about 1936.
Khomeini ends up getting exiled from Iran in 1964 because of a controversial speech he gave:
They have reduced the Iranian people to a level lower than that of an American dog. If someone runs over
a dog belonging to an American, he will be prosecuted. Even if the Shah himself were to run over a dog
belonging to an American, he will be prosecuted. But if an American runs over the Shah, the head of
state, no one will have the right to interfere with him…”
After the revolution is over, Khomeini returns to Iran. Marina describes his comeback.
“Then, after his own long exile in Turkey, Iraq, and France, Khomeini returned to the country on Febuary
1. As his plane neared Tehran, a reporter asked him how he felt about his return. His answer was that he
felt nothing. His words repelled me. Many had lost their lives to pave the way for his return in the hope of
making Iran a better place, and he felt nothing? It seemed as if instead of warm blood, cold water flowed
inn his veins.”
What Marina doesn’t seem to realize is that Khomeini said that he felt nothing because his idea of
spiritual development was that of Ibn Arabi’s Perfect Man. Through contemplation, religious observance
and discipline, his aim was to approach the point at which his inner world reflected the world beyond
himself-and, in turn, reflected and became a channel for the mind of God. As he left the aircraft, his car
made its difficult way through the crowds from the airport to the Behest-e Zahra cemetery for Khomeini
to honor the martyrs killed in the demonstrations of the last few months. As he passed, the people chanted
not just “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) but also “Khomeini, O Emam.” In Shi’a mysticism (erfan),the

Galasinao18
Emam and the Perfect Man were one and the same. No human being since the disappearance of the
Twelfth Emam had been acclaimed with the title Emam (many senior ulema never accepted the title for
Khomeini). The followers and the crowds were not saying directly that Khomeini was the Hidden Emam
returned to earth,but it was very close to it. Centuries before, the Arab poet Farazdaq saw the fourth
Emam at Mecca,and afterward wrote:
He lowers his gaze out of modesty. Others lower their gaze for awe of him. He wrote is not spoken to
except when he smiles.
The mojtahed on the path to becoming the Perfect Man had no place for feelings or the manifestation
of feelings or the manifestation of feelings. So this applies to Khomeini. He did not want to show any
emotion over his return.
8. Taliban ruled Afghanistan and Islamic Iran
Taliban ruled Afghanistan and Islamic Iran can be compared to one another because they are both
autocratic anti-Western Islamic nations. Because these nations follow and pervert the rules of Islam, they
end being oppressive to the people, including women. Additionally, the previous nations were puppet
states of the superpowers they served.
Taliban Ruled Afghanistan
In September 1996, after the Afghan Civil War,the Taliban suddenly took Kabul quickly over. The
leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, was the one eyed son of a peasant. Like his followers, he had never
been to Kabul. But he had cloaked himself in the mantle of a prophet-quite literally; a garment deemed to
have been Muhammad’s was removed from an Afghan shrine and shown off by Mullah Omar on his rare
public appearances.
Those who did not follow the rules of the Taliban were killed. Many people had been killed under the
Taliban’s rule. One act in particular, the destruction of the giant Buddha statues in Bamiyan, seemed to
symbolize the intolerance of the regime towards other religions. Also, Laila, Tariq, and Babi end up
visiting these statues. They went inside one where they walked up its stairs and looked outside.
The feared Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice authorized the use of force to
uphold bans on un-Islamic activities.
The Taliban also tortured and killed former communist president, Naijbullah. This was the first
symbolic-and horribly real-violence after the fall of Kabul.
“The loudspeaker voice belonged to a slender, bearded young man who wore a black turban. He was
standing on some sort of makeshift scaffholding. In his free hand, he held a rocket launcher. Beside him,
two bloodied men from ropes tied to trafficlight posts. Their clothes had been shredded. Their bloated
faces had turned purple-blue.”
The Taliban enforced many different rules because they wanted to turn Kabul into a city of God so
they had to get rid of all sings of Westernization.

Galasinao19
Is now known asthe Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.These are the lawsthat we will enforce and you will
obey:
All citizens must pray five times a day. If it is prayertime and you are caught doing something other,you
will be beaten.
All men will grow beards. The correct laugh is at least one clenched fist beneath the chin.If you do not
abide by this, you will be beaten.
All boys will wear turbans. Boys in grade one through six will wearblack turbans, higher grades will
wear white. All boys will wear Islamic clothes.Shirt collars will be buttoned.
Singing is forbidden.
Dancing is forbidden.
Playing cards, playing chess,gambling, and kite flying are forbidden.
If you keep parakeets, you will be beaten.Yourbirdswill be killed.
If you steal, yourhand will be cut off at the wrist. If you steal again,your foot will be cut off.
There was also a ‘Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice’ authorized the use of
force to uphold bans on un-Islamic activities.
Despite the crimes of cruelty of the Taliban, Rasheed actually supports and likes them. He
believes, unlike the warlords, that they are united. Also he can identify with them; after he is like them;
strict, conservative, a devout follower to Islam, oppressive to women, and sadistic.
The Iranian Revolution
In January 1978, an article appeared in the paper Ettela’at, attacking the clergy and Khomeini as
“black reactionairies.” The article was had been by someone trusted by the regime and approved by the
court. It contained twisted facts and invented fictions about Khomeini; it stated that he was a foreigner, a
British spy, and a poet. Though, he really was a poet. Marina acknowledges this. These false facts led to
people protesting out in the streets. Iran tried to supress these protests but they could not succeed. In time,
the protests ended up turning into the Islamic revolution.
The 1979 revolution wasn’t just a religious revolution. Economic slump and middle-class
disillusionment with the corruption and oppression of a regime many had previously were important
factors,as was a nationalistic dislike of the unequal relationship with the United States. But the revolution
drew great strength from its Shi’a form, which lent cohesion and a sense of common purpose to disparate
elements-even those that were not overtly religious-and from the clarity and charisma of Khomeini, which
albeit temporarily gave an otherwise disunited collection of groups and motivations a center and a unity.
Unlike other revolutions in history-notably the Bolshevik revolution of 1917- the Iranian revolution really
was a people’s revolution. What was crucial to the outcome was the actions of a large mass of people, and
the genuine expression of the people’s will, if not the longer-term result, was the immediate outcome.

Galasinao20
In Prisoner of Tehran, Marina’s boyfriend, Arash, ends up participating the revolution. Unfortunately,
he ends up being killed by Iranian soldiers. Marina and Arash’s brother, Aram, learn about his death when
they go to a TV station; they see his Aram’s lifeless corpse.
Eventually, the people win the revolution. The Shah is exiled from his nation; he is no longer it’s
leader; he goes to the United States. Iran ends up becoming an Islamic country.
Islamic Iran
Upon his arrival Khomeini on Febuary 5 appointed his own prime minister from the Freedom
Movement, Mehdi Mazargan, Revolutionairy Committees (Komitehs) were set up and began cooperating
gooodiing to be replaced by supporters of the government.
“To make matters worse, our new principal, Khanoom Mahmoodi, was a nineteen-year-old revolutionairy
guard, a fanatic young woman wearing the complete Islamic hejab. Wearing the hejab wasn’t yet
mandatory, but it seemed as if rules were about to change. Hejab is an Arabic word that means the proper
cover for a woman’s body. It can have different forms, one of which the proper cover for a woman’s
body. It can have different forms, one of which is the chador. After the hejab became mandatory, in big
cities, especially Tehran, instead of wearing the chador, most women wore loose, long robes called the
Islamic manteaux and covered their hair with large scarves; if worn properly, this was also an acceptable
form of hejab.”
Soon armed revolutionary guards and members of Islamic committees were everywhere,looking
suspiciously at everyone, and hundreds of people were arrested,accused of having been members of
SAVAK. They were imprisoned and their belongings were seized: some were executed,beginning with
the top-ranking officials of the old regime who had not left the country. Horrendous pictures of their
battered, bloody battles were published in newspapers.
There were executions of old regime members. It shocked moderates and liberals (including
Bazargan), as well as many of those around the world who had initially welcomed the fall of the shah.
The killings stopped for a time in mid-March, but continued for moderation, but acquiesced to the
pressure from young radicals urging revenge for the deaths of the previous year. The young Islamic
radicals were his weapon against the rival groups that had participated in the revolution. In April and
May, Khomeini was given a sharp reminder of the seriousness of the struggle and the consequences of
failure, when severalof his close supporters, including notably Morteza Motahhari, were assassinated.
Not too long after the revolution, dancing was declared evil and illegal, and my father lost his job at
the Ministry of Arts and Culture.
The schools in Iran change as well. Marina describes this change:
Schools reopened. And we returned to class. Our principal, an accomplished woman who had been very
close to the last minister of education during the time of the Shah, was gone. We heard she had been
executed. She had skillfully managed the school for many years, and her absence was felt in every way.
There were rumors that most of our teachers were soon.
911 attacks and the War in Afghanistan

Galasinao21
On September 9, 2001, 911 occurred. Two airplanes, hijacked by terrorists, had plowed into the Twin
Towers in Manhattan. Five weeks later,on October 7, 2001, the United States attacked the Taliban and al-
Qaeda in Afghanistan. About 3000 people were killed.
After the attack took place, President Bush had been reading a book about goats to school children,
My Pet Goat. He was whispered to that America was under attack. But, instead of getting up to do
something important, he sat down and kept on reading his book.
The reason there are Islamic terrorists is because of the United States. It’s not simply black and white.
Terrorists aren’t there to cause death and destruction to the world because they hate freedom. That’s not
true. You see,the United States has carried out proxy wars in Middle Eastern countries like Yemen.
Proxy wars are wars between two sides that are supported militarily by two outside nations. The
American proxy wars led to several people being killed and injured, and destruction in places. Also, the
United States set up army bases all over the Middle East. Middle Eastern people resented America’s
imperial and destructive influence so they turned to terrorism in order to fight back.
As a result, the Coalition of the Willing (The U.S. and other nations; soldiers of those nations)
invaded Afghanistan, end Taliban rule; the Taliban is reduced to hiding or going to other nations like
Pakistan, and they established a puppet government that is led by Harmid Karzai. Karzai was a former
advisor to the American oil company, Unicol, which was at the time, considering to establish an oil
pipeline in Afghanistan.
This invasion, this war on the Taliban, is known as the War in Afghanistan. This nation was invaded
out of revenge; to inflict destruction upon the Taliban, to find Osama Bin Laden, and to get oil.
The U.S. had their revenge but they could not find Osama Bin Laden; he escaped from Afghanistan.
The U.S. stopped targeting him. They had a new target,the American people. Americans were seen as
potential threats so the U.S. limited civil liberties and put surveillance; men and women searched people
in airports. They also made the people afraid through terrorist propaganda so that people could easily
submit their civil liberties. The people wanted to feel safe.
“Then one warm night in July 2002, she and Tariq are lying in bed talking in hushed voices about all
the changes back home. There have been so many. The coalition forces have driven the Taliban out of
every major city, pushed them across the border.” (p. 589)
The year now is 2013, the war began in 2002. It has been nine years since this war started. It has
supressed the length of the Soviet War in Afghanistan and it is said that this war is exactly like the Soviet
War. It has caused pointless bloody deaths of Afghani civilians and U.S. soldiers, the sale of opium by
terrorists so they are able to get rich, Karzai and his puppet government are failing; it is possible that the
Taliban will rule once again.
Conclusion
Despite the obstacles in the two books, in each one, there is a happy ending. In Prisoner of Tehran,
Marina is released from Evin thanks to Ali’s parents/her former parents in law. She goes to back to her
parents, and she and Andre become lovers. Of course,no one really speaks about Marina’s experience in
Evin because they are afraid to.

Galasinao22
Since Marina and Andre are lovers, the two of them plan to get married. Unfortunately, they once
again face obstacles. Marina’s parents and friends don’t think the two should be married because they fear
they would face danger from the Iranian government. Andre had told Marina that while he waited for
Marina in Luna Park; he was inside the car,a man had come up to him to tell him not to marry Marina,
“I’m warning you: she’s a Muslim and you are a Christian, so you can’t get married. Then he turned and
left. Marina believed this bearded man to be Mohammad, one of Evin’s guards, she was Marina’s friend.
Yet despite the danger Andre faces,he still wants to marry Marina. “Marina, I understand the
situation,” he said. “I know that marrying you is dangerous. But I want to do it. We can’t give in. We’re
not doing anything wrong. We’re in love, and we want to get married. How far are we going to let them
push us? We have to take a stand.”
In time, Marina’s parents have this old wise man, Hooshag Khan, to tell Marina not to marry Andre.
He tells her that she shouldn’t because they live in dangerous times but Marina angrily responds, “You
have no right to tell me whom I can or cannot marry! Not you, nor my parents, and definitely not the
government! I’ll do what I want to do! I’ll do what’s right to do! Enough compromises (253)!”
This angry response makes the colour come out of Hooshag Khan’s face,and to leave. Mariam ends
up crying. Also, her response indicates how strong Mariam is willing to defend her beliefs.
On July 18, 1985, Marina and Andre get married. They end up having a son whom they name
Michael.
In time, Andre and Marina realize that they can never be safe in Iran. So, they decided to leave the
country with Michael. The three are going to move to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. But before they reach
this city, they end up in an airport in Zurich. While they wait to get on the plane, she thinks about
Canadian teenagers she observes.
I knew at that moment, as I watched those teenagers with their bright and carefree smiles, that we would
be in fine in Canada. It would be our new home, where we would be free and feel safe, where would raise
our children and watch them grow, and where we would belong.
In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Laila and Tariq are united. The two of them are able to be with each
other because Rasheed is dead. Plus, Aziza is treated better by Tariq than by Rasheed. Of course,Zalmai
doesn’t like Tariq, he wants his real father,Rasheed back but in time, he gets used to Tariq and ends up
liking him. Laila has a good family; she is no longer a part of Rasheed dysfunctional family.
Also, they move to Muree to live in safety because of the War in Afghanistan. It is stated that life
there is one of comfort and tranquility. The work there is not cumbersome, and on days off, they take days
off; Tariq and her take the children to ride the chairlift to Patriata hill, or go to Pindi Point.
Now, Laila ends up reading a letter that was given to Mariam back in the 1980s. Mariam’s father,
Jahlil had written it to her. He states that he didn’t deserve to be with her for how he treated her, he lost
his wealth, and that he wants her to inherit a big building of his, he says that he’s going to die soon
because of his weak heart so he wants her to visit him. Unfortunately, Mariam had never gotten this letter,
and she never met with Jahlil.

Galasinao23
Since Laila misses living in Kabul, her, Tariq and the children move there. She goes back to her
orginal home. It is there that they own the Jahlil’s building and they turn it into an orphanage for the
parentless children who have been affected by Afghanistan’s wars. The children are taken care of, they
are happy. Laila is aware of the dangerous situation that Afghanistan faces; the war,the Taliban. U.S.
soldiers, yet she’s happy that there is happiness now in the present.
She also had wanted to visit Mariam’s grave but couldn’t because it was unknown where she was
buried. But she ends up realizing that Mariam is everywhere.
“When they first come back to Kabul, it distressed Laila that she didn’t know where the Taliban had
buried Mariam. She wished she couldn’t visit Mariam’s grave, to sit with her awhile, leave a flower or
two. But Laila sees now that it doesn’t matter. Mariam is never very far. She is here,in these walls
they’ve repainted, in the trees they’ve planted, in the blankets that keep the children warm, in these
pillows and books and pencils. She is in the children’s laughter. She is in the verses Aziza recites and in
the prayers she mutters when she bows westward. But,mostly, Mariam is in Laila’s own heart , where she
shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.”
The word ‘a thousand suns’ has a significant meaning in the book. It is even included in the title.
And then, from the darkened spirals of her memory, rise two lines of poetry, Babi’s farwell ode to
Kabul:
One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs
Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls
This poem was written by Persian poet Saib-e-Tabrizi. The moons and suns are metaphors to the
author. Hosseini. The moons are the men, and the women are the suns. The reference to “a thousand
splendid suns that hide behind her walls” likely refers to the women of Kabul, glowing beauties cloistered
in hearth and home, tantalizingly hidden from the outside world but nonetheless providing vital life-
giving warmth to Afghan society. The powerful image of women as “splendid suns” ties in with
Hosseini’s theme of women’s strength and importance to Afghan society.
Laila ends up pregnant again. Her and each family member has a different idea on what to name the
child if it is idea. But they all have an idea on what to name the child if it is a girl.
A Thousand Splendid Suns and Prisonerof Tehran are two different books. But despite their
differences, they are the same because they the historical events of their nations affect the main characters
in these two different types of literature. Coups, war, the rise of radical Islam, unfair treatment of women,
and imprisonment affects Mariam and Laila in A Thousand Splendid Suns, and Marina in Prisoner of
Tehran. Allthese characters struggle through these obstacles. Life is not easy for them; they suffer.
Mariam even ends up being executed. Yet,they ended up enduring these obstacles; they saw the good
know how dire their situation was. Mariam, moments before her execution, realizes that the life she lived
was good.
Mariam wished for so much in those final moments. Yet as she closed her eyes, it was not regret any
longer but a sensation of abundant peace that washed over her. She thought of her entry into this world,

Galasinao24
the harami child of a lowly villager, an unintended thing, a pitiable thing, a regrettable accident. A weed.
And yet she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back. She was leaving it as
a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother. A person of consequence at last. No. It was not so bad.
Mariam thought, that she should die this way. Not so bad. This was a legitimate end to a life of
illegitimate beginnings.
Mariam, Laila, and Marina all struggle because they are women. The whole world is against them.
Yet, through their struggle and pain, they show the strength, humanity, and love of women. They show
how great women truly are.

Galasinao25
Works Cited
Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Riverhead, 2007. Print.
"Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir." Barnes & Noble. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2013.
"Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies [Paperback]."Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes
of Its Enemies: Ian Buruma, Avishai Margalit: 9780143034872: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 15
June 2013.
"The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers
[Hardcover]."Amazon.com: The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the
Failures of Great Powers (9781586487638): Peter Tomsen: Books. N.p.,n.d. Web. 15 June 2013.
"A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind [Paperback]."A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind: Michael
Axworthy: 9780465019205: Amazon.com: Books. N.p.,n.d. Web. 15 June 2013.
"Women in the Arab World - Women's Issues,Global Trends S. (Hardback)."Women in the Arab World.
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2013.
"Hamid Karzaiand Unocal." Hamid Karzaiand Unocal. N.p.,n.d. Web. 15 June 2013.
"The Cold War Museum." Cold War Museum. N.p.,n.d. Web. 15 June 2013.
"A Thousand Splendid Suns: Metaphor Analysis." Novelguide. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2013.
Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 15 June 2013.

ATSS and POT - for merge; A Thousand Splendid Suns Is Predictive Programming And A Glimpse Of A Different Universe In The Multiverse; Prisoner Of Tehran; Afghanistan And Iran Need Orthodox Trotskyism And Epoch Rewilding

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (17)

Similar to ATSS and POT - for merge; A Thousand Splendid Suns Is Predictive Programming And A Glimpse Of A Different Universe In The Multiverse; Prisoner Of Tehran; Afghanistan And Iran Need Orthodox Trotskyism And Epoch Rewilding

Similar to ATSS and POT - for merge; A Thousand Splendid Suns Is Predictive Programming And A Glimpse Of A Different Universe In The Multiverse; Prisoner Of Tehran; Afghanistan And Iran Need Orthodox Trotskyism And Epoch Rewilding (17)

More from Mimic Octopus Man

More from Mimic Octopus Man (20)

ATSS and POT - for merge; A Thousand Splendid Suns Is Predictive Programming And A Glimpse Of A Different Universe In The Multiverse; Prisoner Of Tehran; Afghanistan And Iran Need Orthodox Trotskyism And Epoch Rewilding