Anis Daily

About Anis Daily

Anis Daily (روزنامه انیس) is Afghanistan's flagship Dari-language state newspaper, founded on 5 May 1927 by Ghulam Muhayuddin "Anis" — the pen name from which the paper takes its title. Published in Kabul for nearly a century, it celebrated its 99th anniversary in May 2026 and stands on the threshold of its centenary in 2027, making it one of the oldest continuously published newspapers in the region and the senior Dari daily of the Afghan state press.

About Anis Daily

Anis is a state-run daily newspaper published in Kabul. It is the leading Dari-language paper of the Afghan state press, appearing every day with national news, official announcements and coverage of political, social and cultural affairs. Alongside the English-language Kabul Times and the Pashto-language Hewad, it completes the trio of state dailies that have long formed the backbone of government print media in Afghanistan.

The paper's name carries a literary tradition. Its founder, Ghulam Muhayuddin, wrote under the pen name "Anis" — a Persian word meaning a close companion or intimate friend — and the newspaper inherited the name as a mark of that personal authorship. In the Persian journalistic tradition, such pen names were common among the writer-editors who founded the region's early papers, and Anis is among the few of those founder-named titles still in print anywhere.

Unlike its English-language counterpart, Anis has no verified website or digital edition. It is a print newspaper in the classical sense: written, printed and distributed on paper in Kabul, read in ministries, offices and homes across the capital. No official website or social media presence for the paper could be verified, and none is claimed here.

The paper's print-only status also shapes how it is read. Without a website competing for attention, Anis exists in the physical routines of the capital — folded under arms, spread on office desks, quoted in conversation — the classic ecology of a city daily that digital metrics cannot capture.

History

Anis was founded on 5 May 1927, in the final years of King Amanullah Khan's reformist reign — an era when Afghanistan's press was beginning to take modern shape. Its founder, Ghulam Muhayuddin "Anis," established it as a Dari newspaper at a time when very few Afghan publications existed at all, giving the paper a founding date that predates nearly every other title still publishing in the country.

The paper's founding in 1927 places it in the first generation of modern Afghan journalism, when a handful of pioneering titles were introducing the newspaper form to Afghan readers. Of that generation, Anis is the survivor still appearing under its original name — a continuity that the 2026 anniversary celebrations explicitly honoured.

To have published for 99 years is, in the Afghan context, an extraordinary record of survival. The paper has appeared through the Musahiban monarchy, the republican and communist periods, the civil wars of the 1990s, the first Taliban government, the Islamic Republic era and the current Islamic Emirate — adapting, like the state itself, to each new political order while keeping its name, its language and its daily rhythm.

The milestone was formally marked in May 2026, when the paper's 99th anniversary was celebrated — an event reported by the editor-in-chief of the Kabul Times, the English-language state daily. The anniversary confirms the paper's continued publication into 2026 and sets up its centenary in 2027, a hundred years after Ghulam Muhayuddin "Anis" first put the title into print.

Little of the paper's internal editorial history is publicly documented in accessible sources — a common condition for state publications whose archives have rarely been digitised. What the anniversary establishes, however, is continuity: a Dari daily that has never permanently ceased, carrying the same name it was given in 1927.

Print and digital

Anis is a print daily, published in Kabul and distributed in the capital. Its pages carry the standard fare of a state newspaper: official statements and decrees, national news, parliamentary and governmental affairs, and cultural content in Dari.

No digital edition of Anis has been verified. The paper does not appear to maintain a website, an e-paper archive or verified social media accounts, and this profile makes no claim about online availability. Readers seeking the paper must find it in print — a reminder that, for much of the Afghan press, the newspaper remains a physical object first.

This print-only character distinguishes Anis from the growing number of Afghan outlets that have moved online or into exile digital publishing. It also makes the paper harder for outside observers to verify day to day — which is why the May 2026 anniversary report, carried by a sister state paper, matters as evidence of continued publication.

Languages and readership

Anis publishes primarily in Dari, with some content in Pashto. Dari — the Persian language of Afghanistan — has long been the country's language of administration, literature and inter-ethnic communication, and a Dari daily reaches the broadest literate audience of any Afghan print title: officials, teachers, professionals and the urban reading public.

The Pashto content acknowledges the country's other official language and the bilingual character of the Afghan state press. Together with the English-language Kabul Times and the Pashto flagship Hewad, Anis gives the state a daily presence in each of the languages that matter most to its domestic and international audiences.

Its readership is, by the nature of a state daily, institutional as much as individual: government offices, schools, libraries and newsstands in Kabul, where the paper's nearly century-old name still carries weight.

For Dari readers, Anis has been a daily presence across a lifetime of political change — the paper their grandparents read at breakfast and that still appears under the same name. That intergenerational familiarity is something no new publication can manufacture, and it is the core of the paper's cultural standing as it approaches its hundredth year.

Location and operating status

Anis is published in Kabul, Afghanistan, where it has been based throughout its history. It is an in-country operation and has not moved into exile; its journalism is produced in the Afghan capital.

The paper is assessed as active: its 99th anniversary was celebrated in May 2026, as reported by the Kabul Times' editor-in-chief, confirming publication into 2026. Confidence in the finer details of its current operation is medium — no website, contact point or recent front page could be independently verified — but its continued existence as a publishing daily is established.

Official website and contact

No official website, email address or social media account for Anis Daily could be verified, and none is listed here. This is consistent with a print-only state newspaper whose presence is physical rather than digital.

WorldNM is an independent directory and does not own, operate or represent Anis Daily. Readers seeking the paper should look for it in print in Kabul; no online contact channel can be recommended on current evidence.

Sources and last verified

This profile was verified on 13 October 2026. The founding date of 5 May 1927, the founder Ghulam Muhayuddin "Anis," the Dari-primary language profile and the state-run status are drawn from secondary sources including the Encyclopaedia Iranica's Anis entry and the Afghanistan media inventory of 2026-10-13. The 99th anniversary in May 2026 was reported by the Kabul Times' editor-in-chief. No website or contact details for the paper were found, and none are claimed.

As with all directory entries, facts reflect what was publicly verifiable on the verification date.