By Kavita Mistry 
Visiting the Deoband Darul Uloom during his recent India tour, the Taliban’s Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, described the institution as “Madar e Ilmi”, or alma mater, which in a way provided a glimpse of Mr. Muttaqi’s evolution as a fighter and a diplomat.
Born in 1970 in a Pashtun family in Zarghun village of Helmand province, Amir Khan Muttaqi’s life has been intertwined with the history of his conflict-torn country. His family had migrated to Helmand from Paktia. The Afghanistan that he was born into was to change radically even as he started his early education in his village.
Among the waves of Afghans who left their homes after Soviet intervention began in December 1979 were Mr. Muttaqi and his family from Helmand. He shifted to the Afghan refugee camps that had come up near Peshawar, Pakistan. The refugees also provided young fighters for resisting the Soviet invasion and Mr. Muttaqi was one of the teenagers who joined the anti-Soviet jihad of the 1980s, funded by the CIA and guided by Pakistan’s ISI. It was during his years as a refugee in Pakistan that the young Pashtun fighter picked up Urdu which he uses today with his Pakistani and Indian interlocutors.
In Peshawar, seven political parties came up in the refugee camps (the Peshawar Seven). Prominent leaders from these groups were Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Burhanuddin Rabbani, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Hazrat Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, Pir Sayed Ahmad Gailani, Maulana Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, and Mohammed Yunus Khalis. Of them, Maulana Mohammadi and Khalis extended full support to the Taliban when the outfit was launched in the 1990s.
Mr. Muttaqi joined the Islamic Revolutionary Movement of Afghanistan of Maulana Mohammadi, who had also groomed other Taliban leaders such as its founder Mullah Omar. Like Mohammadi before them, Mullah Omar, Mr. Muttaqi, and Hibatullah Akhundzada, the current leader of the Taliban, studied in madrasas that followed the curriculum of Darul Uloom Deoband. It was because of this link Mr. Muttaqi described Deoband as his ‘Madar e Ilmi’.
Among all the Taliban commanders, Mr. Muttaqi is known for being a negotiator, a role that was given to him by the late Mullah Omar. Muttaqi is one of the few Taliban leaders who have survived all the violent phases of Afghanistan’s recent history. As a young Taliban leader, he became the Minister of Information and Culture and general spokesperson of the Taliban in 1996 when the outfit took power in a chaotic situation.
He was serving as the Minister of Education when the war with the U.S. began in Afghanistan in 2001, following the 9/11 attacks, leading to the overthrow of the first Taliban regime. He survived the most intense phase of violence that continued till negotiation was started with the Taliban during the first term of U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017-18.
Return to Kabul
Mr. Muttaqi was part of the U.S.-Taliban negotiation and was present at the signing of the deal in Doha on February 29, 2020, when the Taliban delegation was led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Though the deal was opposed by the Ashraf Ghani government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Taliban carried out a hybrid war on the ground following the deal and captured Kabul by August 2021. Mr. Muttaqi then became the Foreign Minister.
Ever since, Mr. Muttaqi has travelled to China, Russia, Pakistan, Doha, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, India and other countries.
Over the last four years, the most challenging aspect of Mr. Muttaqi’s assignment has been presenting Afghanistan as a rational actor even as it continued to impose its no-education policy on young women, who are also restricted from joining the workforce. Mr. Muttaqi has also carried out a few difficult discussions successfully since taking charge, including the one regarding the release of American hostage Amir Amiri, who was released in September 2025 after President Trump’s Special Representative on hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, held discussions with him.
Apart from the conflict with Pakistan, Mr. Muttaqi’s biggest challenge continues to be the fact that only Russia has so far given diplomatic recognition to Taliban as the ruler of Afghanistan. It remains to be seen if he can convince other major powers to recognise the Taliban as the de jure rulers of Afghanistan.