NEW DELHI (Oct 11) — The visit of Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to India drew sharp criticism on Friday after women journalists were excluded from a press conference he held at the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi, following his talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
According to reports, participation at the event was restricted to a small group of reporters. While Indian officials had suggested including women journalists, the final decision — made by Taliban officials accompanying Muttaqi — barred them from attending.
The move triggered widespread outrage across India’s political and media circles, with critics calling it an insult to Indian women and a capitulation to the Taliban’s discriminatory practices.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue.
“If your recognition of women’s rights isn’t just convenient posturing from one election to another, then how has this insult to some of India’s most competent women been allowed in our country — a country whose women are its backbone and its pride?” she wrote on X.
Rahul Gandhi also condemned the government’s inaction, saying, “Mr. Modi, when you allow the exclusion of women journalists from a public forum, you are telling every woman in India that you are too weak to stand up for them. Your silence exposes the emptiness of your slogans on Nari Shakti.”
Journalists react
Prominent journalists took to social media to express anger over the decision.
Smita Sharma wrote, “No woman journalist invited to the press conference by Muttaqi. No reference to the horrible plight of Afghan girls and women under the Taliban regime in EAM Jaishankar’s remarks or the joint statement.”
She added, “Muttaqi getting the red carpet welcome in a country where we take pride in women achievers and leaders because of our security concerns — world politics today.”
Suhasini Haidar called the decision “ridiculous,” saying, “The Taliban FM is allowed to bring their abhorrent and illegal discrimination against women to India, as the government hosts the Taliban delegation with full official protocol. This isn’t pragmatism — this is supplication.”
Nayanima Basu questioned how such an event could be permitted in the Indian capital. “Right under the Indian government’s nose, the Afghan Foreign Minister holds a press conference, intentionally excluding any female journalists. How can this be allowed? Who approved such an outrageous disregard for representation?” she posted.
Muttaqi defends decision
When questioned about the Taliban’s treatment of women, Muttaqi avoided a direct answer, stating that “every country has its own customs, laws, and principles, and there should be respect for them.”
He claimed that the situation in Afghanistan had “improved significantly” since the Taliban took power in August 2021. “Before our government, some 200 to 400 people died in Afghanistan every day. That is no longer the case,” he said.
The episode has cast a shadow over the first official visit by a Taliban foreign minister to India, just a day after Jaishankar announced that India would reopen its embassy in Kabul and expand development cooperation with Afghanistan.
India’s MEA clarifies after backlash
India on Saturday asserted that it had no role in the press conference addressed by Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in New Delhi, which sparked outrage as no women journalist was “allowed” to attend it.
“The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had no involvement in the press interaction held yesterday by the Afghan FM in Delhi,” officials said Saturday. At the embassy on Friday, as Muttaqi walked in to address the media, only male reporters were present as the women were kept out.