Abdul Bari Jahani

Jahani has just been given parliamentary vote of approval to serve as a minister in the cabinet of Afghan unity government 2015 for the ministry of information and culture.

Jahani was supported by a large number of Afghans, particularly youths to run for president himself in the 2014 elections, but he chose not to and his favorite candidate for the presidency is yet to be determined. Whomever Jahani sides with will have a better chance of victory in the southern region of Afghanistan. If one person could unite Pashtuns of the south in the contemporary era, it will be Jahani because there is a lot respect in Afghanistan particularly in the south for his sense of patriotism, his pride in Afghan history and his intellectual abilities. Jahani is a strong critic and opponent of corruption in Afghanistan and his intellectual crusade against the rampant corruption of the Afghan government has impacted his relationships with President Karzai who has a long-standing friendship with Jahani. Their friendship witnessed further rift when Jahani backed the bid of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai for president in the 2009 elections of Afghanistan in which Hamid Karzai won a second term in office.

Jahani is criticized by some for basing some of his poetry on an epic theme which according to critics invites people to war and violence, but his proponents not only defend his epic poetry and his efforts to depict Afghan history in the language of poems, but also claim that Jahani's poetry invites Afghans to unity, solidarity, peace, education and progress. His recent poem that sparked a national debate amongst scholars about what role intellectuals could play in conflict resolution efforts was about a suicide bomber and his mother in which he depicted good through the role of a desperate mother and bad through the role of a brainwashed son who wanted to carry out a suicide attack for a quest to earn heaven and salvation. Some critics viewed the poem as recognition of suicide attacks as a legitimate and glorifying act while others viewed the poem as informative and educative for those people who fall victims of terrorists and extremists. The poem lets mother mercy and humanity win over the hatred, violence and evil of the to-be suicide bomber son. The poem is written in a dialogue form between a mother and a son. The poem is set to music by Afghan singer Bashir Maidani with the title "Nasihat" available on YouTube and Maidani's 2011 album Afsoz; the song is very popular amongst Pashtoons in the world because of Jahani's excellent poetry.

Jahani continued to use his able mind and pen and VOA provided him the platform to convey his message of enlightenment to various parts of Afghanistan. With Jahani's contribution and dedication to excellence and his prominence and popularity amongst Afghans, VOA's Pashto service ratings and listeners have soared. Jahani's career as a journalist with the Voice of America has earned him several recognitions and medals from the leadership of the Voice of America. He retired from the Voice of America in 2010, but never ceased to end his advocacy for Afghan unity, Afghan education and Afghan prosperity. He regularly gets offers to speak at various Afghan events held in Afghanistan, Middle East, Europe and the United States and regularly gets interview request by various Afghan TV and Radio stations in Afghanistan and around the world. Not only that Jahani's articles about social, political and economic situation of Afghanistan are well received by various public and private print and online media outlets in Afghanistan and around the world. Jahani regularly visits Afghanistan and speak at various events including seminars discussing Pashto literature and education.

Jahani is considered the most prominent Pashtun poet of the contemporary era. Because of his prominence in Pashto literature and poetry, he was officially requested by the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai to write the Afghan national anthem in 2006. Prior to that, Jahani also advised the Afghan commission tasked with writing the new constitution in 2004. Jahani's lyrics were adopted as the national anthem (Pashto: ملي سرود - Milli Surood; Dari: سرود ملی - "Surud-e Milli") and officially announced at a meeting of the Loya Jirga in May 2006. The English translation and the Pashto transliteration of the Afghan National Anthem are as follows:

Jahani is considered a very influential person in Afghanistan and politicians often rely on his influence over all Afghans particularly Pashtuns in the South and East of the country. Presidential hopefuls during both 2005 and 2009 elections have tried to get Jahani to back their bids for presidency to attract more voters from the south and the east of Afghanistan. Jahani is believed to be in favor of politicians who work for all Afghans regardless of their ethnicity and political affiliations. Jahani believes in a united Afghanistan and often backed leaders who represent all Afghans from all ethnic groups. Jahani backed Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in the 2009 Afghan presidential elections; Ashraf Ghani became the president of Afghanistan in the April 2014 presidential elections.

Communists and leftists feared voices of prominent figures like Jahani and began a government planned campaign against influential and intellectual figures. Jahani migrated to Pakistan as a refugee and after two years of living as a refugee there, Jahani was offered a job with the American propaganda network Voice of America in Washington D.C. Jahani accepted the offer and joined the Voice of America's Pashto service in 1983 as an International broadcaster. He has contributed extensively to Pashto language programing of the Radio. Jahani hosted political talk shows, news hour shows and poetry shows at the Voice of America. His poetry show of late 11PM called “Da Ashnayaano Adabi dera” had listeners in the entire South Asian region and the Middle East. His poetry show had listeners from different age groups including youths and elders. One of his most famous poem which had a huge demand and continues to have, was the story of “three cows and one wolf” that was written in the language of poetry. The moral of the poem is unity. Like most of his other poetry, in his “three cow one wolf” poem Jahani speaks to his audiences in a plain, natural and understandable language. He warns them of what is at stake if Afghans remain divided and what could be achieved if Afghans leave behind their differences and get united behind a common goal of building a prosperous, stable and peaceful Afghanistan.

Jahani graduated from Kabul University in 1972 with a BA in Pashto literature and history. Upon his graduation from Kabul University, Jahani joined the Pashto Tolana which is a very prestigious literature body in Afghanistan whose members have been prominent Afghan philosophers, historians, poets and writers. Getting into Pashto Tolana is the equivalent of getting into Harvard Law Review if someone was pursuing legal education in the U.S. Pashto Tolana approves the entrance of new terminologies into Pashto language and is tasked to develop Pashto language to be richer in terms of new vocabulary. Jahani had tremendous contribution to the development of Pashto language while at Pashto Tolana

Abdul Bari Jahani (Pashto: عبدالباري جهاني, born 14 February 1948) is an Afghan poet, novelist, historian and journalist. He wrote the lyrics for the national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Jahani is a prominent Pashtun poet of the 21st century. He is considered to be the contemporary Rahman Baba and Khushal Khan Khattak who are two prominent Afghan warrior poets of the 17th century. Jahani's poetry has various themes including epic, romance, patriotism, bravery and a message of enlightenment. He has published dozens of books in poetry and has translated several Persian poetry books from Persian into Pashto in the language of poetry which is a difficult task to undertake. Besides that Jahani has translated several English books into Pashto. His main poetry books include: