Afghanistan is a multiethnic country in Central Asia. The older characters in The Breadwinner, such as Parvana’s parents, recall the beauty of life in Kabul, the capital, before the eras of the Soviets and the Taliban.

The Afghan War (1979-92) began as an internal conflict between Afghanistan’s communist government and anticommunist Islamic guerrillas. However, in late 1979, in support of the communist government, the Soviet Union began its invasion of the country. Given the Cold War context, the US supported Afghanistan’s anticommunist forces, who managed to expel the Soviets from the country after a protracted war that Britannica estimates killed 1.5 million people.

The Soviets’ withdrawal from the country in 1989 created a power vacuum; the official government had little control beyond Kabul, and violence broke out across the country between competing militias vying for control. Due to the ongoing conflict and the land mines that many of the factions used, millions of Afghans became refugees or were killed or maimed. Much of the country’s infrastructure and farmland were destroyed, damaged, or riddled with land mines, leading to malnutrition, disease, and further death. The impact of this destruction is evident in numerous scenes from the novel, including those that show extreme hunger, poverty, and the demand for artificial legs needed by those who lost limbs to land mines or other acts of war.