New Delhi: After much uproar from press bodies, opposition parties and sections of society over the exclusion of women journalists, Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has called a second press interaction on Sunday, October 12, this time keeping it all-inclusive.

On Friday, the Afghan delegation led by Muttaqi, which was in Delhi in a first-ever trip by a Taliban foreign minister to India, held a media briefing at the Afghan Embassy following talks with his Indian counterpart, S. Jaishankar. However, women journalists were expressly prohibited from attending the briefing.

The Editors Guild of India (EGI) had strongly condemned this exclusion, calling it a “blatant gender discrimination”.

“The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the exclusion of women journalists from the press conference held on Friday, 10 October 2025, by Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi at the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi. The conference was meant to address diplomatic and bilateral engagements during Mr. Muttaqi's visit to India. 

“While diplomatic premises may claim protection under the Vienna Convention, that cannot justify blatant gender discrimination in press access on Indian soil,” the Guild said.

“Whether or not the MEA coordinated the event, it is deeply troubling that such a discriminatory exclusion was allowed to proceed without objection,” the statement read.

The press body also said that the “absence of solidarity in pointing this discriminatory practice at the event signals a troubling complacency in our community”, and urged the Union government to reaffirm its commitment regarding gender equity at press access at diplomatic events held in India.

“We also call upon our journalist colleagues and media houses to reflect on this lapse and adopt a zero-tolerance stand against any kind of discriminatory exclusion of anyone at a press event. A free and inclusive press must defend representation, not enable exclusion,” it said.

The Indian Women Press Corps (IWPC) also termed the act as highly discriminatory, urging the Union government to take up the matter with the Afghan Embassy to ensure that such gender-based exclusion in media briefings does not occur in the future.

"The decision for inviting journalists was reportedly taken by officials accompanying the Foreign Minister who represents the Taliban regime that has faced severe criticism, globally for restricting rights of women.

"Established to promote and advance the professional growth of women journalists, the IWPC sees this act as highly discriminatory. It goes against the grain of our democratic ethos and constitutional values that uphold gender equality," it stated.

Meanwhile, opposition leaders slammed the government for agreeing to such a discriminatory event and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify his position on the matter.

The Congress called it shocking and unacceptable that the government agreed to the "ban on female journalists" at the presser in Delhi.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said if the Prime Minister’s recognition of women’s rights was not just convenient posturing from one election to the other, how has this “insult to some of India’s most competent women been allowed in our country”.

The party said it was shocking and unacceptable that the Government of India agreed to the "ban on female journalists" at the presser in Delhi.

The Afghan foreign minister held talks with external affairs minister S. Jaishankar on Friday (October 10) afternoon, following which he held a media briefing at the Afghan embassy premises in central Delhi. 

Invitations for the briefing were extended to around 17 media outlets, all of which were represented by male journalists. While a couple of women journalists even waited outside the gates of the embassy, they were not allowed inside.

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