Amir Khan Muttaqi (Pashto: امیر خان متقی [ˈamɪr xɑn mʊtaˈqi]; born 26 February 1971) is an Afghan Taliban militant and politician serving as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since 7 September 2021.[2] He was also a member of the negotiation team in the Qatar office.[3]
Amir Khan Muttaqi امیر خان متقی | |
|---|---|
 Muttaqi in 2021 | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
Acting | |
| Assumed office 7 September 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Hasan Akhund (acting) |
| Deputy | Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai (acting) |
| Supreme Leader | Hibatullah Akhundzada |
| Preceded by | Haneef Atmar |
| Member of the Leadership Council | |
| Assumed office 15 August 2021 | |
| In exile May 2002[1] – 15 August 2021 | |
| Minister of Education and Minister of Information and Culture | |
| In office c. 1996 – c. 2001 | |
| Leader | Mullah Omar |
| Succeeded by | Noorullah Munir (2021) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 February 1971 Nad Ali, Helmand, Kingdom of Afghanistan |
| Occupation | Politician, Taliban member |
| Political affiliation | Taliban |
Early life and education
editKhan was born on 26 February 1971 in a village of the Helmand Province, his family's roots being in the Paktia Province, getting his primary education in a local school and mosque but because of the communist Saur Revolution, he had to move with his family to neighboring Pakistan, where he was enrolled in a refugees’ madrasa and studied subjects such as Arabic grammar, logic, rhetoric, jurisprudence, hadith and Qur’anic exegesis.[4]
He continued his higher Islamic studies at the Darul Uloom Haqqania, a seminary in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province from which many other influential Talibans graduated.[5]
Political career
editHe was initially part of Maulvi Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi's group during the Afghan jihad but later joined the Taliban movement when it emerged.[6]
Khan served as Minister of Information and Culture and as a representative of the 1996–2001 Taliban government in United Nations-led talks.[7][8] During that time, a pro-Taliban source says that his "innovative activities" led to "a systematic jihadist publication apparatus against the enemy’s widespread media aggression."[9]
On 17 August 2021, just after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, he was reported to be in Kabul talking to non-Taliban politicians such as Abdullah Abdullah and Hamid Karzai about forming a government.[10] Taliban forces took control of Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul on 15 August 2021 during a military offensive against the Afghan government that had begun in May 2021.[citation needed]
On 7 September 2021, the Taliban announced the first members of a new "acting" government, three weeks after coming to full power with the takeover of Kabul on 15 August. Amir Khan Muttaqi was appointed as Afghanistan's acting foreign minister.[2]
In December 2021, Amir Khan Muttaqi attended a session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Council of foreign ministers as Afghanistan delegate.[11] The session were attended by delegations from 57 nations with China, Russia, and United States of America as guest delegations.[12] Amir Khan discussed with Pakistan prime minister, Imran Khan, regarding the threat of ISIS in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.[13]
Writings
editIn 2004 he wrote a book which was banned by the Taliban leadership, which thought some of its information could not be aired publicly.[14][15]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Sayed, Abdul (8 September 2021). "Analysis: How Are the Taliban Organized?". Voice of America. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
- ^ a b Pal, Alasdair (7 September 2021). "Factbox: Who are the key figures in the new Taliban government?". Reuters. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
- ^ "Former Taliban minister Amir Khan Muttaqi arrives to the signing of a US-Taliban agreement in the Qatari capital Doha on February 29, 2020". Getty Images.
- ^ "Biography Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan – Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan". Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- ^ ur-Rehman, Zia (25 November 2021). "Where Afghanistan's New Taliban Leaders Went to School". New York Times.
- ^ "طالبان مذاکراتی ٹیم میں کون کیا ہے؟". BBC News اردو.
- ^ "AMIR KHAN MOTAQI | United Nations Security Council". www.un.org. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
- ^ "Biography of Amir Khan Muttaqi". 6 March 2018.
- ^ "Translation of the biographies of the Taleban negotiation team". Afghanistan Analysts Network. 21 September 2020.
- ^ "Afghanistan: flights resume in Kabul as Taliban 'hold talks to form government'". The Guardian. 17 August 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ "The U.S. failed in Afghanistan by trying to moralize with bullets and bombs". theconversation. theconversation. 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ "OIC Pimpin Pertemuan Bahas Krisis Kemanusiaan, Ekonomi Afghanistan" (in Indonesian). VOA Indonesian region. Voice of America. 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ "Amir Khan Muttaqi downplays Imran Khan's remarks at OIC summit". The News. The News. 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ van Linschoten, Alex Strick; Kuehn, Felix (2012). An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban-Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan. Oxford University Press. p. 448.
- ^ Giustozzi, Antonio (2012). Decoding the New Taliban: Insights from the Afghan Field. Hurst Publishers. p. 272.