Author’s Note: In The Bread­win­ner, the author offers a com­pre­hen­sive his­tor­i­cal back­drop of Afghanistan, empha­siz­ing its piv­otal role as a land bridg­ing Europe and Asia. Afghanistan’s geo­graph­ic diver­si­ty, with its moun­tain­ous ranges, expan­sive deserts, wind­ing rivers, and fer­tile val­leys, has made it a crit­i­cal loca­tion for trade and cul­tur­al exchange for cen­turies. Sit­u­at­ed in such a strate­gic posi­tion, Afghanistan has attract­ed the atten­tion of var­i­ous glob­al pow­ers through­out his­to­ry, each seek­ing to con­trol the region’s resources and routes. The country’s loca­tion and topog­ra­phy made it a con­test­ed space, as it has his­tor­i­cal­ly been part of sev­er­al empires’ ter­ri­to­r­i­al dis­putes. Since 1978, Afghanistan has been embroiled in almost con­stant con­flict, begin­ning with the Sovi­et-backed Afghan gov­ern­ment fac­ing resis­tance from Amer­i­can-sup­port­ed insur­gents. This sit­u­a­tion esca­lat­ed dra­mat­i­cal­ly with the Sovi­et inva­sion in 1980, which fur­ther com­pli­cat­ed the region­al land­scape and increased the Unit­ed States’ involve­ment in sup­port­ing Afghan fight­ers.

Fol­low­ing the Sovi­et with­draw­al in 1989, Afghanistan entered a pro­longed civ­il war, as var­i­ous fac­tions com­pet­ed for dom­i­nance. This civ­il unrest cre­at­ed mil­lions of refugees, many of whom fled to neigh­bor­ing coun­tries, seek­ing safe­ty from the grow­ing vio­lence. The coun­try frac­tured fur­ther, with no sin­gle fac­tion able to main­tain con­trol for long peri­ods. The Tal­iban, an extrem­ist group, took advan­tage of the pow­er vac­u­um and seized Kab­ul in 1996, mark­ing a dark era in the nation’s his­to­ry. Under the Taliban’s rule, women and girls faced severe restric­tions on their free­doms, includ­ing the clo­sure of girls’ schools, a ban on women work­ing, and the impo­si­tion of a strict dress code requir­ing them to wear the burqa. In addi­tion, the Tal­iban banned cul­tur­al expres­sions such as music and tele­vi­sion, erad­i­cat­ing many forms of enter­tain­ment, while books and lit­er­a­ture deemed sub­ver­sive were destroyed in an effort to con­trol pub­lic per­cep­tion and knowl­edge.

The occur­rences of Sep­tem­ber 11, 2001, changed the glob­al focus to Afghanistan after it was revealed that al-Qae­da, the mil­i­tant group respon­si­ble for the attacks, had been giv­en sanc­tu­ary by the Tal­iban. In response, a U.S.-led coali­tion launched an inva­sion to dis­man­tle the Tal­iban and remove al-Qae­da from Afghanistan. The Tal­iban regime was top­pled swift­ly, and a new gov­ern­ment was formed, with demo­c­ra­t­ic elec­tions lead­ing to the estab­lish­ment of a new con­sti­tu­tion. The reopen­ing of schools, espe­cial­ly for girls, was cel­e­brat­ed as a sig­nif­i­cant step for­ward. Some women began to rejoin the work­force, mark­ing slow but tan­gi­ble progress in restor­ing gen­der equal­i­ty. How­ev­er, despite these advance­ments, the coun­try con­tin­ued to face numer­ous chal­lenges, includ­ing cor­rup­tion, insta­bil­i­ty, and ongo­ing vio­lence. The per­sis­tent pres­ence of for­eign mil­i­tary forces also led to wide­spread dis­sat­is­fac­tion, fur­ther fuel­ing a sense of dis­con­tent among the Afghan pop­u­la­tion.

Although Afghanistan expe­ri­enced progress in cer­tain areas, such as the restora­tion of edu­ca­tion and some rights for women, it was unable to break free from its past of con­flict and divi­sion. The Taliban’s resur­gence as a guer­ril­la force left much of the coun­try in a con­stant state of inse­cu­ri­ty. While schools reopened and some women returned to their jobs, these gains were frag­ile and fre­quent­ly under­mined by the ever-present threat of vio­lence. Activists and edu­ca­tors advo­cat­ing for wom­en’s rights faced direct threats, with reports of attacks on schools and vio­lence against those cham­pi­oning edu­ca­tion for girls. Despite this, Afghanistan’s his­to­ry remains a tes­ta­ment to the resilience of its peo­ple, who con­tin­ue to fight for their rights and a bet­ter future. The author of The Bread­win­ner under­scores the neces­si­ty of under­stand­ing the country’s com­plex his­to­ry to avoid repeat­ing past mis­takes in the for­mu­la­tion of poli­cies. The nation’s chal­lenges can­not be solved by sim­plis­tic solu­tions or for­eign inter­ven­tions alone, but rather through a deep­er under­stand­ing of its social, polit­i­cal, and cul­tur­al dynam­ics.