Overview

• The lyricist said he "hangs his head in shame" over the "reverent" reception for Amir Khan Muttaqi and faulted Deoband for honoring a representative of a regime that has banned girls' education.
• Muttaqi toured Darul Uloom Deoband in Saharanpur, where vice chancellor Abul Qasim Nomani and Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind president Maulana Arshad Madani received him as students and locals looked on.
• This marks the first high-level Taliban visit to India since 2021, during which S. Jaishankar announced plans to upgrade India’s technical mission in Kabul to a full embassy.
• An initial Afghan embassy press conference in Delhi excluded women journalists, drawing criticism, and a second briefing was later held with women present after the minister called the first omission a technical issue.
• Muttaqi voiced hopes for stronger ties and said Kabul will send diplomats to India, traveling on a temporary UN Security Council travel exemption due to existing sanctions.