Mawlawi Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai assumed the role of Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs in the fall of 2021. Born in 1959 to Haji Padshah Khan, he received his early education in his home village and later in Kabul. His advanced studies took him to Shimla in India, where he earned a degree in military/security studies in 1981. Upon return, he aligned himself with the Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami jihadist party, led by Mawlawi Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, during the Afghan jihad against the Soviets. Stanikzai served as a military instructor with Ittihad-e-Islami and Jamiat-e-Islami Islamist party under the leadership of the late mujahideen commander, Mawlawi Mohammad Younus Khalis. By 1985, he became a military commander in the southwestern region of Afghanistan in the group. In late 1994, Stanikzai joined the Taliban and quickly rose through the ranks, holding senior positions as Deputy Minister of Public Health and later as Deputy Foreign Minister under the Taliban's regime. After 2001, he remained active in the Taliban's insurgency and served in various roles, including as a senior member and then deputy of the Taliban's Political Office in Doha, Qatar, in 2014. From mid-2015 to early 2019, he led the group's Doha office and played as one of the Taliban's main negotiators with the United States until August 2021. He is listed on the UN's sanctions list under the designation TAi.067.
