Abdul Bari Jahani (Pashto: عبدالباري جهاني, born 14 February 1948) is an Afghan poet, novelist, historian and journalist.
Other sources, including his Pashto and Persian articles in Wikipedia has written that he is a Hotak, a sub-tribe of Ghilzai, however, a lecturer of Kabul University's Faculty of Economics and one of the most prominent economic experts in Afghanistan, Ustad Said Masoud declares that Abdul Bari Jahani is a Tajik, originally from Ghazni province of Afghanistan[1] (hence, Abdul Bari Jahani's ethnic identity is unknown and could not be confirmed).
Thus, various promenant Afghan writers, including Dr. Said Abdullah Kazim, and Nominated - Academician Mohammad Azam Sistan have questioned Jahani's ability of accurate referencing and free from all prejudice, favoritism and unbiased writing.
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.
In his capacity as the Managing Editor of the Magazine, Jahani oversaw the flow of hundreds of informative and educative social, economic and political articles aimed at keeping the Afghan public aware of the state of affairs of their country.
Subsequently, Jahani served in the Afghan Ministry of Education (MoE) for two years before he was forced to leave the country during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
His poetry show of late 11PM called “Da Ashnayaano Adabi dera” had listeners in the entire South Asian region and the Middle East.
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.
In his Wraka Mayna (lost home) poetry collection, Jahani expresses his deep love and compassion for his homeland Afghanistan.
In Jahani's words this book is dedicated to those who have been convicted by fate, whose mouths have been forcibly shut by the unjust rulers and whose pens have been limited by the people of the time.
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.
[3] 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.
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.
[4] The poem lets mother mercy and humanity win over the hatred, violence and evil of the to-be suicide bomber son.