The Taliban is well known for terrorism in western countries; however, their oppression in their own country is often overlooked. Oftentimes, places the Taliban hold control over suffer more than the commonly named targeted countries. Yasmina Khadra’s book, The Swallows of Kabul explicitly outlines the hardship suffered in Afghanistan and gives a thorough understanding of where their values come from. Through the suffering in the book, it is showed what the people of Kabul value the most as well as what the author values. Khadra was born and currently lives in Algeria which also faces oppression, so his values show a direct connection with those of the characters. The book is about four individuals named Mohsen, Zunaira, Atiq and Musarrat and…show more content… The first value prominent in both the author’s and his character’s lives created by cultural and social influences is tradition. Firstly, the value of tradition is shown in the author’s life by the fact that he enrolled in Algerian army. According to Contemporary Authors Online, “Yasmina Khadra was enrolled in the Algerian army when he was nine years old” (Cengage). Khadra’s father and other family members had also been in the army and served for their country which made it a part of Khadra’s family’s tradition. Therefore, Khadra was socially motivated by his father and his family to enroll in the army thus following his family’s tradition to serve their country. He went on to be to be an officer in the…show more content… Firstly, perseverance is shown in the author’s life when he shares he opinion on the western countries. When being interviewed, Khadra said, “The West interprets the world as it likes. It develops certain theories that fit into its world outlook but do not always represent that reality” (Khadra). Khadra meant that the western countries, which was made up of some of the most fortunate countries, wealth wise and safety wise, tried to say that people of third world countries could not create proper literature. They also made the Middle East out to be a very horrible place to live. Although it was terrible, they believed that the Middle East did not suffer Taliban terrorism like the western countries. Khadra wanted to prove them all wrong so he continued to write stories about the lives of people living there. He wanted to let everyone know how the Middle East really was not such a bad place; however Taliban terrorism still also affected them. Khadra persevered to write stories despite what the west thought and said about him and his culture. He believed in his culture, and wanted to explain it to everyone else. Secondly, perseverance is shown by the characters when Musarrat acquires the will to fight her illness. The book said, “She has fought against the evil thing that’s gnawing her life away, she’s refused to lower her fists” (119)! At