The expectation of the reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi (’aj) is one of the central concepts in Mahdism and has been widely reflected in Persian literature, particularly contemporary poetry. Influenced by religious beliefs and the social and historical conditions of their society, contemporary Afghan poets have offered diverse interpretations of awaiting and its constituent elements. This study examines and explains the themes of awaiting in contemporary Afghan poetry. It employs a descriptive-analytical method, with data collected through library research. The research corpus comprises Mahdist poems by five contemporary Afghan poets: Sayyid Isma‘il Balkhi, Mowahhed Balkhi, Zakaria Rahel, Qanbar Ali Tabesh, and Muhammad Kazim Kazemi. These poems are analyzed according to themes derived from Mahdist sources. The findings show that motifs such as separation from the Imam, anticipation of worldly reform, the Imam’s virtues, longing for his reappearance, belief in his reappearance, social and human suffering, and struggle occur with varying frequencies. Comparatively, awaiting is affective and inward-looking in Balkhi’s poetry; religious and reformist in Mowahhed Balkhi’s; human-centered in Rahel’s; social in Tabesh’s; and active and militant in Kazemi’s. Thus, while retaining its doctrinal and Mahdist foundation, awaiting in contemporary Afghan poetry moves beyond individual separation and longing, becoming connected with the reform of humanity and the world, social concerns, and the responsibility and agency of the one who awaits.