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In what ways is this story distinctively Afghan? Could it have occured in the U.S.? Under what circumstances or within which communities?

I see the story as distinctively Afghan because it is so closely tied to the changing political landscape in that country, as well as to the Afghan culture. The social class distinction, for instance, between Amir and Hassan could not have existed with such ironclad rigidity in the United States. When the refugees from Afghanistan settled in California, for instance, they brought with them their social customs, but their lives still were remarkably different, as demonstrated by Amir and Baba's new circumstances. The role of the Taliban in the story could not have developed in the United States.