Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai once trained with Indian Army

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, who is head of the Taliban's Political Office in Qatar, trained with the Indian Army for three years - between 1979 and 1982. (File image: Reuters)

Senior Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, who met Indian Ambassador to Qatar Deepak Mittal on August 31, had received training in an Indian military academy as an Afghan officer in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Mittal met Stanekzai in the first formal diplomatic engagement since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, according to a press release from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The meeting took place at the Indian embassy in Doha.

In the meeting, he conveyed India's concerns that Afghanistan's soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism.

According to the ministry, the discussions also focused on the safety, security, and early return of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan and the travel of Afghan nationals, especially members of minority communities to India.

Stanekzai, who is head of the Taliban's Political Office in Qatar, trained with the Indian Army for three years -- between 1979 and 1982 -- in the Army Cadet College, Nowgaon, as a jawan and then as an officer at Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, reported NDTV.

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According to the report, Stanekzai is a “rare” Taliban leader who is in the English language. He is also well-traveled, especially during his stint as Afghanistan's Deputy Foreign Minister when the Taliban were last in power from 1996-2001, it said.

In the year 1996, Stanekzai visited Washington DC to convince the then-President Bill Clinton's administration to acknowledge the Taliban government but failed, stated the report. He had also led delegations to China, it said citing a Bloomberg report.

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The Taliban leader was also Abdul Hakim Haqqani's deputy negotiator in the talks, which were held with officials of the earlier Afghanistan government, the report added.

People familiar with India's ties in Afghanistan said it was the first publicly acknowledged contact between the two sides in over at least two decades. MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, replying to questions during his weekly briefing in the last few months on whether India has reached out to the Taliban, has been maintaining that New Delhi is in touch with all stakeholders.