Afghan Taliban visit Bangladesh ahead of polls

Afghan Taliban officials have visited Bangladesh and met Islamist leaders who are seeking to increase their political influence ahead of elections due in February, Islamist officials in Dhaka said Monday.

Abu Sayem Khaled, president of the Bangladesh-Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce, told AFP that the visit by Noor Ahmad Noor, director general at Kabul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also sought to expand trade ties.




Mamunul Haque, leader of the Islamist Khelafat-e-Majlish party, told AFP that Noor had also visited his madrassa during a week-long visit to Bangladesh.

"It was a courtesy call, as we run one of the largest madrassas in the country," Haque said. "He visited some other madrassas as well."

Bangladesh's interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, has not commented. A foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Noor's trip was "personal".

The South Asian nation of 170 million people -- the vast majority Sunni Muslims -- is preparing for its first election since a mass uprising toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest and best-organised Islamist party, ideologically aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, is seeking a return to formal politics after years of bans and crackdowns under Hasina's 15-year rule.

Hasina, blamed for widespread human rights abuses, took a hard line against Islamist movements and oversaw security operations against militants in which scores were killed and hundreds arrested.

The Taliban had longstanding links with the banned militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh, some of whose members fought in Afghanistan against Soviet forces.

Leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam, an influential coalition of Islamic schools and Muslim organisations, visited Afghanistan in September.

Speaking to Dhaka's Prothom Alo newspaper on their return, they said they appreciated what they saw as a "rule-based society" there.

Bangladesh -- the world's fourth most populous Muslim-majority country -- is home to diverse strands of Islamic practice, including a significant Sufi community often condemned by hardline Islamists.

Bangladesh also has a small Shia community, while around 10 percent of Bangladeshis are not Muslims -- mainly Hindus, as well smaller groups of Christians.

sa/pjm/mtp