Three days after being barred from a press conference led by the foreign minister of the Taliban in India, female journalists made a strong show of force by taking their seats and asking him about Afghan women’s social exclusion.
Inside the Afghan Embassy in Delhi on Sunday, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is seen facing a line of female journalists, according to a photo from the Reuters news agency. The Taliban minister, who represents an all-male regime that has gradually stifled Afghan women’s and girls’ freedoms and hopes for four years, had a rare opportunity to speak. Why are you in Afghanistan doing this? When will they be permitted to return and receive their schooling rights? questioned Smita Sharma, a well-known independent journalist.
Since the extreme Islamist party took over in 2021, Muttaqi’s week-long tour to India is the first time a senior Taliban leader has traveled abroad for diplomatic purposes. As part of the Taliban’s efforts to gain legitimacy as a government, the trip was interpreted as a reset of relations between Kabul and Delhi.
Many Indian reporters, press organizations, and opposition politicians criticized Muttaqi’s first news conference on Friday, which only welcomed men, as an insult to press freedom and democratic values in India.
Also Read:
In Texas, a Deadly Measles Outbreak Does little to Dispel Vaccine Skepticism
