India, Sept. 5 -- Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi called off a planned visit to India this month after failing to secure a waiver to a travel ban imposed under UN Security Council sanctions, people familiar with the matter said.

If the visit had gone ahead, Muttaqi would have been the first minister from the Taliban setup in Kabul to travel to India since the group seized power in Afghanistan after the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government in August 2021. All Taliban leaders sanctioned by the UN Security Council have to secure a waiver for foreign travel.

Pakistan currently heads the 1988 sanctions committee of the UN Security Council that oversees the implementation of the travel ban, an assets freeze, and an arms embargo ...