As they arrive in Kabul, Farid warns Amir that Kabul is not as he remembers it. Amir notes that the drive between Jalalabad and Kabul used to take two hours but now is lined by craters and smoldering ruins of villages beset by stray dogs. He tells Farid there were neon and restaurants here as well as Saifo’s kite shop. Farid responds, “[...] you won’t find kites or kite shops on Jadeh Maywand or anywhere else in Kabul. Those days are over” (215). Now, much of Kabul has been leveled into rubble, the population of destitute beggars has increased dramatically, and the city’s unreliable generators often fail due to rolling blackouts.

Farid and Amir promptly meet a Taliban patrol, a group of bearded men armed with Kalashnikovs in a red pickup. Stunned, Amir locks eyes with the driver, but they pass without incident. Farid tells Amir never to stare at the Taliban. Lending credence to Farid’s warning, a beggar describes the Taliban as bored and violence-hungry maniacs who roam the city looking for anyone who might provoke them, or anyone at all: “And on those days when no one offends, well, there is always random violence, isn’t there” (217).