Khaled Hosseini, author of A Thousand Splendid Suns, uses true historical events in his works of fiction. Why would an author include accurate historical details in a fiction novel? What effect does this technique have?

Over meals, conversation always flowed. Though Tariq and his parents were ethnic Pashtuns, they spoke Farsi when Laila was around for her benefit, even though Laila more or less understood their native Pashto, having learned it in school. Babi said that there were tensions between their people -- the Tajiks, who were a minority, and Tariq’s people the Pashtuns, who there the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Tajiks have always felt slighted, Babi had said. Pashtun kings ruled this country for almost two hundred and fifty years, Laila, and Tajiks for all of nine months, back in 1929. And you, Laila had asked, do you feel slighted, Babi? Babi has wiped his eyeglasses clean with the hem of his shirt. To me, it’s nonsense -- and very dangerous nonsense at that -- all this talk of I’m Tajik and you’re Pashtun and he’s Hazara and she’s Uzbek. We’re all Afghans, and that’s all that should matter. But when one group rules over others for so long… There’s contempt. Rivalry. There is. There always has been (Housseini 130).