Then came A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed, that talked about how life was like for women and children in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Through his books, we went on a journey to Kabul – emotional and captivating.

Here’s looking at some quotes from his books as the current crisis unfolds in Afghanistan.

1. “There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood.” – The Kite Runner

2. “I dream that flowers will bloom in the streets of Kabul again and music will play in the samovar houses and kites will fly in the skies. And I dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land of our childhood. If you do, you will find an old faithful friend waiting for you.” – The Kite Runner

3. “I want to tear myself from this place, from this reality, rise up like a cloud and float away, melt into this humid summer night and dissolve somewhere far, over the hills. But I am here, my legs blocks of concrete, my lungs empty of air, my throat burning. There will be no floating away.” – The Kite Runner

4. “War doesn’t negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace.” – The Kite Runner

5. “I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had. But I didn’t.” – The Kite Runner

6. “Life goes on, unmindful of beginning, end…crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis (nomads).” – The Kite Runner

7. “That’s how children deal with terror, they fall asleep.” – The Kite Runner

8. “I brought Hassan’s son from Afghanistan to America, lifting him from the certainty of turmoil and dropping him in a turmoil of uncertainty.” – The Kite Runner

9. “I suspect the truth is that we are waiting for, all of us, against insurmountable odds, for something extraordinary to happen to us.” – And the Mountains Echoed

10. “All my life, I’d been around men. That night, I discovered the tenderness of a woman.” – The Kite Runner

11. “Marriage can wait, education cannot.” – A Thousand Splendid Suns

12. “A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated…” –  A Thousand Splendid Suns

13. “It always hurts more to have and lose than to not have in the first place. Better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.” – The Kite Runner

14. “Kabul is… a thousand tragedies per square mile.” –  And the Mountains Echoed

15. “People learned to live with the most unimaginable things.” – And the Mountains Echoed

16. “It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime…” – The Kite Runner

17. “Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.” – A Thousand Splendid Suns

Have you read these books? Are you reminded of these words as the crisis in Afghanistan deepens.

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