Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi is a prominent Taliban member, who has served as the Taliban's foreign minister since September 7, 2021.
In the past, Muttaqi has held several key roles within the Taliban movement, including leading the Kandahar Radio service and serving as Director of Information and Culture in Kandahar (1995), Minister of Information and Culture (1996), Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1997), and Minister of Education (2000), a position he held until the U.S. ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.
Between 2001 and 2021, Muttaqi continued to play influential roles within the Taliban, including as a member of the Taliban's cultural commission, spokesperson, and member of both the Taliban's Political Office and the Negotiation Team in Doha, Qatar (2016-2021). Before the Taliban's takeover in August 2021, he was chief of staff to the Taliban's emir, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, and headed the movement's guidance and recruitment commissions.
A key figure in the Taliban's foreign relations, Muttaqi played a central role in a 1997 Taliban visit to the United States, leading a Taliban delegation invited by UNOCAL, a California-based oil company that later merged with Chevron Corporation. The visit aimed to negotiate the construction of a gas pipeline through Afghanistan, though the project ultimately did not materialize. In the 1990s, he also represented the Taliban in the United Nations-led talks.
Muttaqi was born on February 26, 1971 to the late Haji Nadir Khan in Zarghoon village, Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand province, though his family reportedly originates from Paktia province. They became refugees in Pakistan when he was nine, where he attended a local madrassa. He later studied Arabic grammar and earned a degree in Islamic studies. Despite receiving several travel exemptions, Muttaqi remains listed under the United Nations sanctions regime under the designation TAi.026.
