Afghan International Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s Delhi press convention excluded girls journalists, drawing world criticism over the Taliban’s ongoing gender discrimination.
A press convention addressed by Afghan International Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in New Delhi on Friday sparked widespread criticism after no girls journalists have been invited, highlighting the Taliban’s persistent gender bias—even on Indian soil.
The occasion on the Afghan Embassy adopted talks with India’s Exterior Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, the place the leaders mentioned bilateral commerce, humanitarian help, and safety cooperation. Nevertheless, pictures and reviews present the presser was attended solely by male reporters.
Taliban officers limit media participation
Sources mentioned the Taliban delegation selected the media invitees, ignoring Indian solutions to incorporate girls journalists. The transfer drew instant backlash, because the Taliban have confronted world condemnation, together with from the United Nations, for curbing girls’s rights in Afghanistan.
The exclusion of girls journalists from Afghan International Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s Delhi press convention sparked widespread outrage, with observers and members of the media condemning it as a blatant reflection of the Taliban’s entrenched misogyny.
Outrage over Taliban’s exclusion of Girls journalists
Critics questioned how such gender-based discrimination could possibly be allowed on Indian soil, highlighting the dissonance of granting a red-carpet welcome to a delegation that systematically restricts girls’s rights, whereas ignoring the plight of Afghan girls and women in official statements or remarks through the go to. The transfer drew sharp criticism each nationally and internationally as an affront to gender equality and India’s democratic values.
Muttaqi sidesteps girls rights questions
When questioned about Afghan girls’s state of affairs, Muttaqi averted a direct response, stating: “Each nation has its personal customs, legal guidelines, and ideas, and there ought to be respect for them.” He additionally claimed that Afghanistan’s safety state of affairs has improved for the reason that Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, citing lowered every day casualties in comparison with the pre-Taliban interval.
International issues over Taliban’s gender insurance policies
Since 2021, the Taliban have imposed extreme restrictions on Afghan girls, limiting schooling, employment, and public life. In July, the UN warned of widespread, systematic oppression of girls and women in Afghanistan. Journalist Suhasini Haidar condemned the presser, calling it “abhorrent and unlawful discrimination dropped at India beneath full official protocol.”
First Taliban Ministerial go to since 2021 takeover
Muttaqi’s go to is the primary by a Taliban minister to India since their return to energy. Whereas discussions targeted on commerce and safety, the men-only press convention grew to become the point of interest of criticism, emphasising world issues over the Taliban’s remedy of girls.