There is very little mention of the Northern Alliance (aka the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, or UIF) in Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner. The Northern Alliance was the organization that united all of the Afghan tribes that opposed the Taliban, fighting against the Taliban during the 1990s while keeping a portion of Afghanistan out of Taliban hands. Following the September 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil, U.S. troops joined with the Northern Alliance fighters, and soon the nation was rid of Taliban rule. Near the end of the novel, Amir mentions the Northern Alliance's role in taking control of the country "and the Taliban scurried like rats into the caves." Previously, when Amir returned to Pakistan to see Rahim Khan, Rahim introduced him to Farid, a Tajik who had fought with Northern Alliance forces for two years in the Peshawar Valley in the "jihad" against the Taliban. Farid was 14 when he joined his father in the fight to liberate Afghanistan. His father was killed, and Farid lost several fingers and toes to the wounds he received.