18 Facts About Mahmud Tarzi

Mahmud Tarzi was an Afghan politician and intellectual.

Mahmud Tarzi is known as the father of Afghan journalism.

Mahmud Tarzi became a key figure in the history of Afghanistan, following the lead of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Turkey by working for modernization and secularization, and strongly opposing religious extremism and obscurantism.

In 1881, shortly after Emir Abdur Rahman Khan came to power, Mahmud's father and the rest of the Tarzi family were expelled from Afghanistan.

Mahmud Tarzi made a pilgrimage to Mecca, visited Paris, and toured the eastern Mediterranean.

Mahmud Tarzi stayed in Turkey until the age of 35, where he became fluent in a number of languages, including his native tongue Pashto as well as Dari, Turkish, French, Arabic, and Urdu.

Mahmud Tarzi published Seraj-al-Atfal, the first Afghan publication aimed at a juvenile audience.

Mahmud Tarzi was the first who introduced the novel in Afghanistan and translated many English and French novels to Persian.

Mahmud Tarzi contributed in editing, translations, and modernization of the Afghan press.

Mahmud Tarzi translated into Persian many major works of European authors, such as Around the World in Eighty Days, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island, International Law, and the History of the Russo-Japanese War.

In Damascus, Mahmud Tarzi wrote The Garden of Learning, containing choice articles about literary, artistic, travel and scientific matters.

Mahmud Tarzi was a reform-minded individual amongst his extended family members whom ruled Afghanistan at the beginning of the 20th century and not unlike his father Sardar Ghulam Muhammad Khan Tarzi.

Mahmud Tarzi would go on to play a large role in the declaration of Afghanistan's independence.

Mahmud Tarzi was then again placed as Foreign Minister from 1924 to 1927.

Mahmud Tarzi effectively guided the second movement of the young constitutionalists called Mashroota Khwah.

Mahmud Tarzi was appointed head of the Afghan Delegation at the peace conferences at Mussoorie in 1920 and Kabul in 1921.

The British, who had dealt with Mahmud Tarzi before, attempted to reduce his position.

Mahmud Tarzi died on November 22,1933, at the age of 68 in Istanbul, Turkey.