The Kite Runner Allusions and Cultural References

When authors give shout outs to other great works, people, and events, it's usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.

Cain and Abel (throughout)
Omar Khayyám (3.28, 8.94, 20.52)
Hãfez (3.28, 3.29, 8.94, 20.52)
Masnawi, Rumi (3.28)
Rumi (3.29, 20.52)
Saadi (3.29, 20.52)
Victor Hugo (3.29)
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (24.195, 24.198)
Jules Verne (3.29)
Mark Twain (3.29)
Ferdowsi, Shahnamah (4.23, 8.45, 9.16, 11.89, 16.39, 17.7, 25.37, 25.39)
David and Goliath (5.53, 22.136-22.153)
Ibrahim (7.134)
Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe (8.48)
Jesus Christ (12.15, 21.82)
Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (12.35)
Beydel (20.52)
Jami (20.52)
The Virgin Mary (24.219)

Nadir Shah (2.7, 10.7, 19.105)
Ali ibn Abi Talib (2.33)
Henry Kissinger (3.44, 3.45)
Mohammed Zahir Shah (4.1, 5.8, 8.97, 11.5, 11.7, 25.119)
Mullah Nasruddin (4.12, 4.13, 21.48, 21.50, 21.51, 21.54, 25.120)
Mohammed Daoud Khan (5.8, 5.33, 6.49, 6.52)
Adolf Hitler (5.38, 5.39, 8.125)
Jimmy Carter (11.5)
Leonid Brezhnev (11.5)
Ronald Reagan (11.5, 11.72)
George H. Bush (11.72)
Hussein bin Talal (13.7)
Aisha bint Abu Bakr (23.4, 23.9, 23.99)
Dan Rather (25.106)
Tom Brokaw (25.106)
Hamid Karzai (25.106, 25.119)

Ian Fleming (3.29)
Rio Bravo (4.8)
John Wayne (4.8)
The Magnificent Seven (4.8, 5.71, 25.65)
Charles Bronson (4.8, 25.65)
Steve McQueen (4.10)
Bullitt (4.10)
Clint Eastwood (5.71)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (5.71)
Ahmad Zahir (7.12, 25.114)
El Cid (8.14)
Charlton Heston (8.14)
Lee Majors (11.7)
Mickey Spillane (11.8)
Elvis (12.15)
Jim Morrison (12.15)
Ustad Mohammad Hussain Sarahang (13.5)
Johnny Carson (13.74, 13.75)
John Lennon (21.82, 21.85, 21.86, 22.10)
Clark Gable (22.123, 23.2, 23.16,
Al Pacino (23.28, 23.34)
The Godfather (23.28, 23.34)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (24.34)
Pakeeza (24.98)
James Coburn (25.65)
Robert Vaughn (25.65)
Dick Clark (25.109)
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (25.143)