Afghan literature

Afghan literature or literature of Afghanistan refers to the literature produced in modern-day Afghanistan. Influenced by Central and South Asian literature, it is predominantly written in the two official languages of Afghanistan: Dari and Pashto. Some regional languages such as Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi, and Pashayi also appear in Afghan literature. While Afghanistan is a multilingual country, the two official languages are generally used for oral compositions and written texts by Afghan writers and in the Afghan curriculum. Afghan literature is highly influenced by Persian and Arabic literature in addition to that of Central and South Asia.

Afghan literature dates back to ancient Afghanistan, where the earliest works of literature were orally transmitted. The oldest extant records of written Afghan literature are believed to be using a derivative of the Nabataean variation of the Aramaic alphabet, dating to the 5th and 6th centuries. However, it primarily originated in the early Islamic centuries.

Archaeological research conducted since 1922 has shown fine art featuring pre-Islamic scripts, demonstrating Afghanistan's rich linguistic legacy of pre-Islamic scripts. Scripts used include Sharada, Kharosthi, Greek, and Brāhmī, which were replaced with the Arabic script following the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan. The Bactrian language, spoken in Bactria (present-day Afghanistan) between 300 BC – 1000 AD and the official language of the region for several hundred years, used an alphabet based on the Greek alphabet.