Incredible. Even publishing was banking on an Iraq invasion?

You expect to be rejected, but what upset me about it was what it meant for Afghanistan. That was a foreshadowing of what happened — that Iraq would overshadow the campaign and absorb military resources. I landed in Kabul the day before Shock and Awe in Iraq, and you could all but hear the collective groan.

Image Khaled Hosseini Credit... Douglas Adesko for The New York Times

There is speculation that Afghanistan’s various factions will quickly descend into civil war after American troops withdraw in 2014. Then what has been accomplished?

The jury is out as to whether the Afghans are up to the task of protecting their people. But it’s very important to point out that the last 12 years have not been a waste. There’s far greater personal freedom in Afghanistan; millions of children are now in school, including girls, which was unheard-of in 2001. Women run for president, women serve in Parliament. Life expectancy in Afghanistan has risen substantially, and there have been dramatic drops in maternal and infant mortality.

But couldn’t those gains be turned back in a matter of weeks, as they were when the Taliban took over in the ’90s?

Yes. But eventually there’s going to be a peaceful process in Afghanistan. Afghan people are just so tired of war. It’s really important that we don’t rush toward a resolution for the sake of having a resolution and that negotiations be inclusive and that women have a voice.

You went to the White House to screen “The Kite Runner” film, and Laura Bush wrote your entry in Time magazine’s 2008 list of influential people. Are you comfortable being seen as the Bushes’ favorite Afghan-American?

You have to be able to interact with people whose politics you disagree with. I saw this as a gracious invitation, and Mrs. Bush was very kind to write the note. I disagreed with a lot of her husband’s policies, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t accept a gracious gesture from her.

Has it been at all inconvenient for you to travel since 9/11?

Sometimes I’ll go up to the counter, and somebody will look at my ID and then will very politely ask me to wait. They’ll go in the back room, and they’ll be gone 20 minutes for reasons that are never explained, and then they tell me I’m fine. It is, I suppose, a very minor, trivial thing.