Taliban Leader Who Met Indian Envoy In Doha Trained With Indian Army

The Taliban representative who met Ambassador Deepak Mittal, India’s envoy in Qatar, on Tuesday in Doha, trained under the Indian Army at its elite institutions in the late 1970s and early 1980s. One of the seven persons who call the shots in the terrorist group that recently took over power in Afghanistan, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai is a key diplomat of the insurgent group.

This is the first time India has admitted to having made diplomatic contact with the Taliban.

Stanikzai trained with the Indian Army between 1979 and 1982 — three years in the Army Cadet College, Nowgaon, as a jawan and then as an officer at Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.

He is a rare Taliban leader who is in the English language and is well travelled, especially during his stint as Afghanistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister when the terrorist group last controlled that country.