We, outside Afghanistan, know very little about the literature being created in Afghanistan in the 21st century. It is only the social media which gets the readers the access to the literature being produced there. Afghanistan's literature and her writers and poets have also been greatly influenced by the socio-political conditions of their country. Afghanistan, in particular, has been under-represented on the global literary map with special reference to feminine voices.

Rana Moqtadar is one of the few feminist voices that has attracted the global readers with inquisition to contemporary Afghan literature in the 21st century. Rana Moqtadar was born on September 22, 1977, in Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi's hometown of Balkh in a middle class family. She graduated from Balkh University with a degree in Persian language and literature. Her mother tongue is Dari which is very similar to that of Persian, in fact, in Afghanistan, Dari is supposed to be Persian itself. Besides Dari, she is fluent in Persian and Pashto. She teaches literature and linguistics at a college in Balkh. She creates a high quality literature in these languages as well as writes research articles and theses. In 2003, she married Waheed Mustafa, an officer in the Afghan army. She is also the editor of the magazine of Balkh Cultural Committee Institute. She also works with various women organizations and is involved in social awareness programs. She strives to educate and empower Afghan women. She has also compiled and edited a dictionary from Iran. Her poetry has been published in magazines, newspapers, websites as well as on various social media platforms in Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey and other countries.
Rana Moqtadar's poetry is based on human and moral values. Most of her political activities revolve around these ideologies and values. But her basic concern in humanity and universal brotherhood. Rana considers the likes of Maulana Rumi, Bedil, Saadi, Hafiz, Farukhi Yazdi and Saib Tabrizi as her predecessors in poetry. Among contemporary poets, she likes to read Syed Hamid Israr Moqtadar, Vasudin Areen, Karima Shibrang, Partaw Nadri, Shehba Noorbakhsh, Haila Siddiqui etc. Among Western writers and poets, she has studied the likes of Noam Chomsky, Frederick Wester, JM Roberts, Rabindranath Tagore, Sadiq Hedayat and others.
Rana Moqtadar's poetry is a mixture of Islamic and moral values, values of humanity, universality, brotherhood and inclusiveness. Her poetry paints a beautiful picture of the combination of East and West as well as of ancient and modern. In her poetry, she creates a bright and atmosphere of love in which there is a pure romantic surrounding, but in her heart, there is an echo of protest in view of the current era and external circumstances. Rana's poetry also laments the deterioration and fall of human values and recognizes human beings as just the most deserving beings on the planet.
Poetry is her strongest passion. She is more interested in free and blank verse which is called 'Sher-e-saped' in Persian literature.
Rana Muqtadar's poetry clearly shows the conflict and confusion between the inner self and the outer self. She considers values such as honesty and sincerity to be the center of her creative energy, but she is furious at the immorality and injustice, dishonesty and selfishness that she expresses through her poetry.
Rana's poetry is full of new and well crafted metaphors and similes. Her poems seek to reach the heights of poetry because she seeks style and context to express herself and this style and context leads her to a repository of new metaphors and similes. In her poetry, the provisions of expression of one’s own self are also beautifully stated. This is how Rana Muqtadar describes her compulsions in her poem 'Ataq-e- Tanhai'.

Email:--------------------------hasnainaaqib2@gmail.com