Qahar Asi (Dari: قهار عاصی; September 26, 1956 – September 28, 1994) was a poet and agriculturist from Afghanistan.

He was born in Malima in Panjshir province. He is considered to be Afghanistan's most famous modern poet who has practiced both "New" and "Classic" poetry styles. Like many other Afghan poets and writers of his time, Asi showed his concerns about the political and social situation of Afghanistan. His poetry is, sometimes, strongly influenced by the then socio-political developments in Afghanistan. His explicit expression of the situations caused him personal problems with the then regimes in Kabul. In his book Az Jazeera-y e Khoon (Persian: از جزیره خون, lit. 'from the Blood Island'), Asi expressed his concerns about the situation of his country during the rule of the Mujaheedin and the civil war.

Asi published a poetry book each year and wrote many poems with romantic and emotional contents. He also worked with Afghan singer Farhad Darya. Asi died in Kabul when a rocket hit his home during the 1990s civil war.^[1]

Personal life

Asi was born in the small village of Malima in the now Panjshir Province to an ethnic Tajik (Persian) family. He studied agriculture at Kabul University. Asi was married to Meetra and had a daughter named Mahasti. Like many other people of Afghanistan from his time, Asi had to flee to Iran to save himself and his family from the destruction of the civil war. He chose Iran and arrived there in the spring of 1994. In his short stay in Mashhad, Asi worked intensively with Afghanistani Poets and published a book and many articles. He then had to go back to Afghanistan after being denied a residence permit in Iran. Shortly after returning to Kabul, he was killed by a rocket fired by Hisb e Islami Golbodeen Hekmatyaar.

Bibliography

• Lala-yee baraye Malima
• Maqama-ye Gol e Sori
• Diwan-e Asheqana-ye Bagh
• Ghazal-e Man wa Gham-e Man
• Tanha Wali Hamisha
• Az Jazeera-ye Khoon
• Az Atash az Abrisham

References