Besides, meeting key leaders of Bangladesh’s Islamist political parties, a senior Taliban government functionary who was in Bangladesh for three days between December 20 and 23 attended a seminar in Dhaka along with a Chinese expert on international climate and environmental policy, Northeast News has reliably learnt.
Documents accessed by Northeast News show that Noor Ahmad Noor, the Taliban government’s Director General of the First Political Directorate under Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, was invited by a Dhaka-based think tank, the Osmani Centre for Peace and Security Studies (OCPSS), to attend a seminar on Sino-South Asian Cooperation and Development, held jointly with the Bangladesh Institute of International Strategic Studies (BIISS).
Fan Daqi from Beijing and an acknowledged expert on climate change, enhancing knowledge reserves and fostering inclusive understanding to navigate cultural differences, is associated with the Center for Foreign Discourse Innovation and Research at the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies in Beijing.
The seminar, held on December 22, focused on “wide ranging geopolitical transformation in South Asia, including intensified great power rivalry, shifts in regional alliances and persistent economic and environmental challenges” that continue to shape diplomacy and cooperation in the region.
OCPSS holds that the “volatile environment is marked by the USA’s tariff episode, China’s rising, India’s strategic balancing and domestic political instability in smaller countries”.
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OCPSS Chairman Lieutenant General (retd) Mohammad Mahfuzur Rahman extended the invitation to Noor whose meetings with some Bangladeshi Islamist outfits, including the Hefazat-e-Islam Joint Secretary General Mamunul Huque.
While the seminar was jointly hosted by the OCPSS and the BIISS, Bangladesh’s Directorate of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) is said to have kept close tabs on the seminar’s proceedings.
After the end of the seminar Noor paid a quiet visit to Army Golf Club and the Kurmitola Golf Club where he is said to have met senior officers of Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), classified documents reveal.
The December 22 seminar was preceded by a similar gathering on development and cooperation between China and South Asian countries, held at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies on September 1, 2025. Here, experts from Bangladesh, China, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka held in-depth discussions on “advancing practical cooperation”.
