Who is General Taheri in The Kite Runner like in A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Thorn Birds?

General Taheri is a kind but domineering person who definitely believes that his wife should be submissive to him. He also has some extreme ideas about women, as he almost killed his daughter, Soraya, when she was living with her boyfriend. In this sense, he is similar to Padraic Cleary, or Paddy, Meggie's father in The Thorn Birds. Paddy also believes that women should be submissive to men, though Frank, one of Paddy's sons, secretly helps his mother against Paddy's wishes. McCullough writes about Frank (the "he" in the first sentence) and Paddy:




"It was a furtive, fearful game he and his mother played, for the most stringent rule in Paddy's domain concerned the proper delegation of duties. The house was woman's work, and that was that. No male member of the family was to put his hand to a female task." 




Paddy is still secretly incensed that Frank, who is the oldest child in his family, is not his biological son but the offspring of his wife (Fee's) illicit union with a married man before Paddy and Fee were married. Paddy still resents his wife for having had this affair, and he resents Frank as a result. In this sense, Paddy is similar to General Taheri, who resents Soraya's former union with her boyfriend.
General Taheri is similar to Jalil in A Thousand Splendid Suns, as Jalil does not totally accept his daughter, Mariam, who was born out of marriage. Like the General, Jalil isolates his daughter, as he feels that her existence is contrary to the rules of society. Also like the General, Jalil has a more positive side as he eventually feels sorry for having spurned Mariam and for not having gratified her wish to see the movie Pinocchio. He follows traditional ideas about women but has a softer side towards his daughter, as does General Taheri in The Kite Runner.