Qatar’s State Security Agency chief till November 2024, Abdullah bin Mohammad al-Khulaifi, was at the centre of extensive negotiations between a top Indian official and Bangladesh’s National Security Adviser even as a key meeting among the three officials was held in Doha on November 25, Northeast News has learnt from at least two sources familiar with the confabulations.
Bangladesh’s NSA Khalilur Rahman took an early morning Qatar Airways flight (QR-639) on November 25, six days after meeting his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in New Delhi, on the sidelines of the Colombo Security Conclave.
The sources said that the Indian official also flew to the Qatari capital where he and Rahman met at an undisclosed location the same day to deliberate upon and negotiate on multiple “sensitive” issues.
The issues discussed included former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League’s fate, elections in the country, and the tenure of the Mohammad Yunus-led interim government.
The Rakhine question related to repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh to their homes in Buthidaung and Maungdaw in Myanmar and a host of other regional security issues were also discussed.
Also in the meeting were two to three Doha-based American officials who have been instrumental in providing direction and guidance to Rahman who has met them on three previous occasions since being appointed Bangladesh’s NSA in early April 2025.
While the Indian official returned to Delhi late on November 25 or early November 26, Rahman stayed behind to continue deliberations with the US officials who later joined him for dinner to end the second day of his visit to Doha.
Khalilur Rahman, who returned to Dhaka earlier today, remained in the Qatari capital to tie up loose ends involving a visit of the Bangladeshi delegation for the forthcoming Doha Forum meeting that will be held there between December 6 and 7.
Rahman’s latest Doha visit is the fourth since he was appointed as Bangladesh’s NSA.
Earlier, he was in the Qatari capital in May, June and August 2025 when he had detailed discussions with Doha-based US officials who have been closely following, monitoring and guiding the Bangladesh NSA on not only national and regional security matters but also sensitive domestic political issues, including the rise of Islamist fundamentalist elements and groups that New Delhi has found being active on the India-Bangladesh border.
The focus of the Doha meeting was the Awami League’s participation in the election whenever it is held.
Holding an “inclusive election” was a message that even Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay shared with Bangladesh Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus during their meeting on November 22.
Besides the issue of inclusive election, which India has been insisting on, Rohingya repatriation and the likely mechanisms on the refugees’ return that could be put in place were also discussed during the meeting between the Indian official, Khalilur Rahman and Khulaifi.
In this context, sources said that already word has been sent out to both well known Burmese and Rohingya individuals living in exile in the US to return to Myanmar and involve themselves in the processes leading to the December elections in that country.
But it is Khulaifi’s presence in the meeting between the Indian official and Rahman that is being considered significant by security officials in India and Bangladesh. Khulaifi’s career in Qatar’s intelligence service began in 2004.
After steadily rising through the ranks in the State Security Agency till 2013, Khulaifi (born in 1980) was appointed attache in the Qatari Amir’s office before he became a Director on the board of Vodafone Qatar in 2014. He held this position till 2015, but his first major break in a leadership role came in 2017 when he was appointed deputy head of the State Security Agency which he headed from 2018 to 2024.
Khulaifi has had the rare distinction of being awarded “the George Tenet medal from the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in recognition of his efforts in strengthening cooperation between the State of Qatar and the United States of America” by the US espionage agency’s former Director William J Burns in August 2024.
Three months later, Khulaifi was appointed as head of the Amiri Diwan which is the heart of the administrative and other important official workplace of the Qatar Amir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
While the meeting in Doha between Khulaifi, the Indian officials and Rahman discussed several issues, the fate of Sheikh Hasina and whether she will continue to live in an undisclosed location in New Delhi or in some other foreign country, was also deliberated upon.
