New Delhi, Oct. 9 -- Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will pack in trips to the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary and the Taj Mahal during his six-day visit to India, which will see him holding talks with external affairs minister S Jaishankar and other senior leaders. Muttaqi, the first senior Taliban functionary to travel to India, is set to arrive in New Delhi on Thursday from Russia, where he represented the group at the Moscow Format meeting, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. The visit marks a significant step forward in New Delhi's efforts to forge a working relationship with the Taliban, which seized power after the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government in August 2021, though India, like the rest of the world community, does not officially recognise the regime in Kabul. Though there was no official announcement from both sides on Muttaqi's visit, the people said he would arrive in New Delhi on Thursday with a five-member delegation that includes deputy industry and commerce minister Ahmadullah Zahid, Noor Ahmad Noor, director general of the first political division in the foreign ministry who handles South Asia, and foreign ministry spokesman Zia Ahmad Takal. Muttaqi will be provided official protocol, including a meeting with Jaishankar at Hyderabad House, where top Indian leaders meet visiting foreign dignitaries, the people said. October 10 will be the main day for official engagements and a meeting with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is not ruled out, they said. The meeting between Muttaqi and Jaishankar will be an opportunity to take stock of the overall relationship, including security issues and counter-terrorism cooperation, the people said. The Taliban side is expected to raise issues such as easing of visas for Afghan students, businesspeople and medical patients. The issue of increasing the Taliban's representation in India is also expected to come up, the people said. On October 11, the people said, Muttaqi is set to visit Darul Uloom Deoband, which is held in high regard by many Taliban leaders. Several senior Taliban commanders and leaders studied at Darul Uloom Haqqania in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province that was founded on the lines of Darul Uloom Deoband. Maulana Abdul Haq, who founded Darul Uloom Haqqania, studied and taught in the seminary in Deoband before Partition in 1947. His son, Sami-ul-Haq, is referred to as the "Father of the Taliban" because of Darul Uloom Haqqania's role in grooming Taliban commanders and leaders. Besides travelling to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal on October 12, Muttaqi is expected to engage with business and industry representatives at an event to be hosted by a leading chamber of commerce in New Delhi the following day....