One of happy occasions during the Persian New Year (Naoruz) celebration in Afghanistan is the kite running game. In Afghanistan, maybe because of their hardship in continuous wars, surprisingly many games are related to “war”. Kite flying in this country is not merely for the sake of flying kites, but also to defeat the others’ kites and to be the last one surviving in the sky. Those who don’t fly kites run after the falling kites. The kite running game inspired Khaled Hosseini giving title to his first novel on Afghanistan, the “Kite Runners”.

Kabul, Afghanistan, 2008