It was Mahmud Tarzi (1865-1933) who began promoting Pashtu as a national language in his newspaper Seraj ul-Akhbar (‘Lamp of the News’, 1911-1918). As well as supplying information and news, Seraj ul-Akhbar played an important role in educating and modernising Afghan society and it was under his influence that Pashtu prose began to develop in Afghanistan along Middle Eastern rather than Indian lines. Foreign works in translation, including numerous works by Jules Verne, were among the first books printed in Afghanistan. Tarzi also published his memoirs Travels on Three Continents about his trip to Syria, Egypt and France (1890). Tarzi was the catalyst of the modernisation movement within the ‘free press’ of his day.

While Tarzi’s efforts were directed toward educating the royal court and literati, the succeeding group of intellectuals tried to develop public education with a view to influencing the masses. The Literary Society, founded in Kabul in July 1931, helped prepare many Afghan teachers for work alongside French and Turkish professorTs at the University of Kabul during the 1930s and 1940s.

The tradition of newspaper sponsorship of literary work continued until the 1950s, when all of Kabul’s newspapers printed special Friday editions full of poetry and short stories. The tone of the writing (in a press that relied on a friendly relationship with its government) was usually uplifting. The moral of a story was important. Dari and Pashtu stories broadcast on the radio were tragic and emotional, but usually featured a miraculous happy ending. In the 1930s important research journals featuring poetry were established. A literary magazine known as Kabul Monthly Review was also published in Pashtu.

One of the best-known poets was Khalili (1907-1987), an ambassador and member of parliament. He was born in Kabul and he was a student of Qari, who cultivated the Khorasani Style of Persian poetry which originally developed during the period from the 10th to the 12th centuries and is characterised by its dignified tone, highly literate language and court patronage. Several important oral legends were published at this time, including Afsanah-ha-yi qadim Sharh-I-Kabul (Kabul 1964), edited by Ahmad Javid, and Afsanah-ha (Kabul 1965), edited by Mirman Heshmatt.

A prescient writer, Sayed Buhaniddin Majruh wrote in 1972 about a group of exiles who discuss the compatibility of the traditional Afghan beliefs and the modern ideas of science and reason.