TEHRAN (MNA) -- “Some of the famous Afghan authors are immigrants who have studied literature and poetry in Iran since childhood,” an Iran-based Afghan author said.

“Prominent Afghan writers like Asef Soltanzadeh, Reza Ebrahimi, Ameneh Mohammadi, and Abbas Jafari owe their success to Iranian literature teachers and professors,” Mohammad-Hossein Mohammadi added.

The author of the book “The Red Fig of the Grave” stated that the main commonality between Iranian and Afghan literature is their common language, which has been developed in Iran but has remained archaic and awkward in Afghanistan.

However, this shouldn’t be regarded as a flaw in Afghan literature; on the contrary, it reminds Iranian authors of their language in the past, he added.

He is convinced that the deficiencies of Afghan short stories are due to the great political and cultural changes that have occurred over the past few decades in Iran and Afghanistan, saying that short story writing flourished during the 1940s and 1950s and had its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s in Afghanistan.

But in the late 1970s the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the establishment of the communist government in Afghanistan severed the cultural bonds between the two countries and hence inflicted great harm on Afghan literature, he added.

Mohammadi went on to say that Afghan literature and poetry are improving.

Although Afghan authors have not proven themselves in the international arena like Iranians writers have, due to their talent, Afghan literature has a promising future, he said in conclusion.