Then I Read Afghanistan

“We endure. It’s all we have.”

Photo by Juan José Zevallos on Unsplash

Sometimes, survival is not about winning. It is not about changing the world or overcoming every hardship. Sometimes, survival simply means enduring one…more day.

I have read two novels by Khaled Hosseini and I recently finished A Thousand Splendid Suns. Like his other works, this novel is more than just a story about its characters. It also offers a glimpse into the history and realities of Afghanistan.

For more than three decades, Afghanistan has faced a series of crises, including war, famine, political instability, and oppression. These conditions forced millions of people to leave their homes and seek safety elsewhere. In the novel, characters such as Tariq and his family reflect the experiences of many Afghan families who were driven to neighboring countries. Even today, many Afghans continue to seek refuge in places such as Pakistan.

Reading this story reminded me that every country has its own difficult chapters. Some struggle with war, others with economic crises, political turmoil, or social conflicts that leave lasting scars. It made me think about different periods in Indonesian history, from the years before independence to the 1998 crisis.

And what about the situation today? That question certainly crossed my mind. But this is not what I want to discuss here. Instead, this novel led me to reflect on something broader… how ordinary people find the strength to survive when the world around them begins to fall apart.

At the heart of A Thousand Splendid Suns are two female characters, Mariam and Laila. If I had to describe their lives in one word, it would be pain. Page after page, the story is filled with loss, suffering, injustice, and hardship. There are moments of happiness, but they feel small compared to the amount of pain they endure throughout the novel.

One character who caught my attention was Rasheed. He is portrayed as a harsh and controlling husband. At first, I thought his cruelty was directed only toward Mariam, his first wife. However, when Laila became his second wife, the same pattern appeared. In the beginning, Rasheed seemed more caring and attentive toward Laila, but over time he treated her the same way he treated Mariam.

This made me wonder... how much can a person really change just because they are with someone different? The novel seems to suggest that a person’s character is often stronger than the circumstances around them. If someone has a habit of hurting others, changing partners may not change the way they behave. The pattern may simply repeat itself with a different person.

But there is one thing that sometimes frustrates me about Khaled Hosseini. He never seems to give his readers a truly happy ending, at least not from my perspective. Just when I start hoping that his characters will finally find peace after everything they have endured, another hardship appears.

I often wonder whether this is simply his storytelling style or whether it reflects the history and reality of Afghanistan itself. When a country has experienced decades of war, displacement, loss, and uncertainty, perhaps a perfect ending would feel unrealistic. For many people, survival itself may already be a victory.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that life is often like that. Most of us do not live in stories with neat and satisfying endings. Instead, we move through unfinished chapters, carrying old wounds, unexpected losses, and dreams that do not always turn out as planned.

Perhaps that is why Hosseini’s novels feel so powerful. They do not present an ideal world. They present a world that feels real, where pain and hope exist side by side. And, yup? Life is not always about getting a happy ending. Sometimes, it is about finding the strength to keep moving forward despite everything.

“Some stories end with happiness. Others end with understanding.”

After finishing the last page of this novel, I did not feel happy. Instead, I found myself reflecting more deeply and realizing how fortunate I am to live in an era where my worries are often about a weakening rupiah, rising living costs, or government policies that sometimes raise more questions than answers.

Those are real concerns, and they deserve attention. Yet compared to living through war, losing a home, being separated from family, or being forced to flee for survival, they belong to a very different reality. The novel reminded me that there is a vast difference between living with uncertainty and living with destruction.

At the same time, this story also reminded me that suffering is not always something that happens far away.

Even in my own country, there are still people struggling.

The greatest lesson I took from this novel was not gratitude alone, but perspective. Behind every economic statistic, every political decision, and every national crisis, there are real people trying to live their lives and make it through another day.

“Some people dream of success. Others dream of safety.”

Cheers.