Othering of Afghans: A Critical Study of And The Mountains Echoed

Abstract

The powerful nations of the Western world through their powerful ideologies have long usurped the weak nations of the world. These advanced countries have employed a variety of covert and overt methods to gain control over people's minds. In the current period of neocolonialism, Western powers attempt to dominate Oriental territories hegemonically, with the help of native informants. The native informers valorize the Western civilization by misrepresenting their own culture. They market their services in the Western world by eroticizing and Orientalizing their own culture. Native informers promote the American agenda by exposing the suffering of people in their own nations. They attempt to decriminalize the American neocolonial agenda. This study examines Khaled Hosseini's role as a native informer in And The Mountains Echoed (2013), one of his most well-known novels in which he portrays a condescending image of Afghan culture but praises Western culture. As a native informer, Hosseini has attempted to justify the US invasion of Afghanistan by portraying Islam as a religion of hostility. He has deemed Afghan culture and its religion to be vile, which, according to him, can be reformed only by the dominant West.

      Keywords: neo-colonialism, native informers, western dominance, American invasion