Deoband, Uttar Pradesh: A frenzy of thousands of men descended on the Darul Uloom Deoband Saturday, leading to the cancellation of a public address by Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan, in anticipation of larger crowds. Muttaqi paid a historic visit to the Islamic seminary, located three hours from New Delhi, which welcomed him with open arms.
Muttaqi, dressed with a black turban highlighted by streaks of silver, stood out in a sea of white, as local men and students hounded the Taliban leader’s vehicle for a glance at him. The influx of men led to the organisers and the administration cancelling a planned address by him at the library of the seminary.
However, Muttaqi addressed a congregation at the library building of the Darul Uloom, before heading to the adjoining guest house for lunch, where he met a number of senior officials from the seminary, including Maulana Arshad Madani, the principal of the institution. The men crowding around Muttaqi’s vehicle on his arrival at the institution, led to his vehicle being damaged, with a dent on one side and a back light being completely broken on the other.
“I am thankful for such a grand welcome and the affection shown by the people here. I hope that India and Afghanistan ties advance further. We will be sending new diplomats, and I hope you people will visit Kabul as well. I have hopes for stronger ties in the future, from the way I was received in Delhi, these visits may be frequent in the near future,” Muttaqi told the assembled media persons as he was leaving the guest house after lunch.
The Afghanistan acting foreign minister arrived in India on 9 October and will be here till 16 October, the dates of his travel waiver granted by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with him Friday, which was the highest level of interaction between New Delhi and Kabul since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
India does not formally recognise the Taliban regime in Kabul. Jaishankar said Friday that its “technical mission” in the Afghan capital will be upgraded to the status of an embassy, which indicates at least diplomatic recognition, and the potential for Taliban-appointed diplomats to be able to present their credentials in India. Ties have moved in a positive direction in the last ten months as New Delhi looks to carve out a working relationship with the Taliban, while Afghanistan-Pakistan ties continue to deteriorate.
However, due to the lack of formal recognition, the Jaishankar-Muttaqi meeting saw no flags in the background. The flag of the Taliban government—a white background with the Shahada—was not seen on the diplomatic vehicles of the Afghanistan embassy, which accompanied Muttaqi to Deoband.
Hundreds of students, who were unable to listen to the short address by Muttaqi inside the library—which was barred to the media—milled around at balconies and corridors of the various buildings inside the seminary to catch a glimpse of Muttaqi’s convoy.
Muttaqi’s visit has also led to criticism from a section of the political Opposition over the lack of invites for Indian women journalists to a press conference at the Afghan embassy Friday.
‘Ties not just academic’
The visit to the Darul Uloom at Deoband comes at a significant moment in the trajectory of New Delhi-Kabul ties.
The seminary, set up in the late 1800s has a long history in being the centre for Islam and academia in South Asia, especially as the world transformed during the 20th century.
Taliban leaders were nurtured at the Darul Uloom Haqqania at Akora Khattak in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkwa province. The seminary in Pakistan was set up in 1947, along the lines of the Darul Uloom Deoband, by the cleric Abdul Haq Akorwi. Abdul Haq, a student of the seminary at Deoband, had left India following Partition and set up the Darul Uloom in Akora Khattak.
His son Samiul Haq had benefitted from the efforts of Abdul Haq to make the Darul Uloom Haqqania the preeminent institution in Pakistan, that counts amongst its alumni, pillars of the Taliban, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the architect of the organisation’s suicide-bombing campaign, his former boss Akhtar Mansour, and al-Qaida’s former regional head Sanaul Haq.
“I told him that our ties with you are not just academic. You contributed to the independence of India. Our forefathers chose the land for Afghanistan to fight for India’s independence… For your independence, you defeated powers like America and Russia,” Madani, principal of the Daral Uloom Deoband, told media persons after Muttaqi left for New Delhi.
“I told him [Muttaqi] that this meeting shows how the Muslims of India and the Darul Uloom Deoband have deep ties. There should be harmony within the nations of the world, irrespective of their religion…There was no political discussion…India has had complaints that Afghanistan sent terrorists to India. Now, after this meeting, it is confirmed that no terrorists will come to India from Afghanistan.”
Muttaqi’s visit to Darul Uloom Deoband indicates the potential soft power linkages India is looking to lean into as it moves to create a working relationship with the Taliban. The cradle of the Jihadist movement in Pakistan, the Darul Uloom Haqqania faced a suicide bombing earlier this year, which led to the death of Hamidul Haq Haqqani, the head of the seminary.
As relations between Pakistan and the Taliban—which Islamabad closely nurtured over decades—is seemingly fraying due to a number of irritants. In December 2024, Pakistan bombed Afghan positions across the Durand Line, killing 46 Afghans, leading to further tensions in ties.
The Taliban has also increasingly been courted by both Russia and China. Moscow was the first government to formally recognise the Taliban earlier this year, while Beijing was the first to accept diplomatic credentials from the regime in Kabul in January 2024.
Beijing has looked to tap into the mineral wealth of Afghanistan—which by some estimates stands at $3 trillion—and has pushed for Kabul to join its signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In 2023, a Chinese firm promised to invest $450 million into Afghanistan to develop its oil sector in the Northern areas of the country.
Amidst the growing geopolitical competition in Afghanistan, India has welcomed the Taliban’s offer of allowing Indian companies to enter the mining sector in the Central Asian nation. Furthermore, India, which had invested roughly $3 billion in the country before the return of the Taliban in 2021, has promised to look into developing at least six new projects, apart from its strong humanitarian aid presence.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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