He is the oldest of five children. Just like the protagonist in The Kite Runner, his family was privileged and came from the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood. At the age of eleven, he and his family relocated to Paris, France so that his father could continue his work as a diplomat. They were unable to return to Afghanistan in 1978 because of the Saur Revolution in which communists took over the Afghan government. Two years later, the family applied for Asylum in the United States as the Soviet War in Afghanistan began.