Taliban foreign minister arrives in India; to visit Taj Mahal and Deoband seminary

NEW DELHI: Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who arrived in India on Thursday for a multi-day visit, is expected to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra and the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary in Uttar Pradesh the spiritual birthplace of the Deobandi school of thought that shaped the Talibans ideology. The visit comes against the backdrop of growing unease in AfghanistanPakistan relations. After Pakistani airstrikes killed 46 people in Afghanistan in December 2024, the Taliban openly criticized Islamabad and began seeking greater engagement with regional powers. While India has not officially recognized the Taliban regime, it has maintained a technical mission in Kabul, focusing on humanitarian assistance such as food aid, essential medicines, and earthquake relief. Upon arrival in New Delhi, Muttaqi was received by Anand Prakash, Joint Secretary of the Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran (PAI) Division at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in line with diplomatic protocol. Warm welcome to Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi on his arrival in New Delhi. We look forward to engaging in discussions with him on bilateral relations and regional issues, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday. Following his engagements in Delhi on Friday, including a meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar at Hyderabad House, Muttaqi is expected to travel to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, and then to Deoband over the weekend to visit the Darul Uloom seminary a deeply symbolic location for the Taliban movement. His trip is set to conclude on October 15, a day before his United Nations Security Council travel waiver expires. Muttaqis India visit the first by a senior Taliban leader since the regimes return to power in 2021 signals a tentative but potentially transformative shift in the Talibans foreign policy: one that looks beyond Islamabad toward a more multipolar regional engagement.