No women journalists at Taliban press meet with Delhi

India on Saturday asserted that it had “no role to play” in the press conference addressed by Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in New Delhi – which sparked outrage as no women were ‘allowed’ in it.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the invites for the press meet went to select journalists from Afghanistan’s Consul General in Mumbai who were stationed in Delhi for the Afghan minister’s visit. The Afghan Embassy territory does not come under the jurisdiction of the Indian government, it pointed out.

Women were missing at the press conference held on Friday at the Afghanistan Embassy. Some female journalists were also allegedly stopped from entering the meet. Shortly after the press meet, many journalists expressed their anger on social media and also pointed out that all women reporters had respected the dress code.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan is known for the restrictions it imposes on women, especially barring them from working. Recently, it even banned books authored by women in Afghan universities and dropped 18 courses, including Gender and Development, Women’s Sociology, Human Rights, Afghan Constitutional Law, and Globalisation and Development.

Opposition leaders have also questioned the Centre over the alleged ‘ban’ on women at the event.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “clarify” his position on the incident. She asked how the “insult to some of India’s most competent women was allowed in our country, a country whose women are its backbone and its pride”.

Muttaqi arrived in India on Thursday and held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar a day later. The meeting was seen as a big reset of ties, with India announcing that the technical mission in Kabul would be upgraded to an embassy – which was welcomed by the Afghanistan foreign minister.