The dean of Iran’s Al-Mustafa International University says some of the officials of the new government of Afghanistan have studied at the institution.

The university, which is the Islamic Propaganda Bureau of the Qom Seminary, is a state-funded university-style Shia seminary with branches in almost 60 countries.

In an interview, Ali Abbasi said people of 83 nationalities are studying at the institution while in its Kabul branch, more than 50 percent of scholars are Tajiks and Sunnis.

It is not clear exactly what is being taught at the Kabul branch after the Taliban takeover, but the branch’s website reported almost 4,500 scholars were studying there until 2019.

Abbasi did not explain how people who were trained in this Shiite complex took positions at the Sunni government of the extremist Taliban.

The Al-Mustafa University pays for hundreds of foreign students from China to Africa and Latin America who come to study and then return to spread Iranian Shiite teachings in their countries.

Observers say Al-Mustafa has become Iran's chief tool for promoting Shi'ism abroad. The university received around $80 million in the 2020-2021 Iranian budget, making it more important than ever. It is believed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office and businesses under his control provide additional funding to Al-Mustafa.

In 2020, the United States imposed sanctions on the massive university network, alleging that it recruited Afghan and Pakistani students to fight in Syria.