Women Journalist’s Exclusion ‘Not Intentional’ Claims Muttaqi in Second Press Conference

New Delhi: Facing women journalists seated in the front rows, Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi brushed aside criticism over their earlier exclusion, saying it had been “only due to short notice.” Flanked by two Emirate flags, he insisted the omission was “no more than that.”

Two days after his first press event drew sharp criticism for barring women reporters, Muttaqi returned to address the media – this time before a fully inclusive audience.

Unlike the initial briefing held in the cramped conference room of the Afghan embassy, Sunday’s event took place in a larger hall meant to host bigger gatherings.

The Taliban also appeared eager to project its symbols more prominently. A small flag rested on the table before Muttaqi, while a full-sized one stood behind him, making the display far more assertive than before.

The first question at this press conference was about the earlier exclusion of women journalists.

Asserting that it was not intentional, the Taliban foreign minister stated that it was “due to the short notice”. 

“The participation list was prepared with specific journalists, and it was more of a technical issue than any deliberate exclusion. It was not intended,” he said.

Muttaqi on women's education in Afghanistan

Muttaqi’s visit to Delhi marked the first ever official trip by a senior Taliban functionary to India, signalling the culmination of a series of outreach efforts over the past three years. While India has not recognised the Taliban regime, Union external affairs minister S. Jaishankar announced that India’s ‘technical team’ in Kabul would be upgraded to the “level of embassy.”

This was a sharp shift from August 2021, when the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan and India withdrew all embassy staff while cancelling visas for Afghan nationals.

The absence of women journalists at Friday’s conference had quickly turned political, with opposition parties criticising the government for allowing it, and press bodies issuing statements of concern. The Ministry of External Affairs said it had played no role in organising that interaction.

During Sunday’s briefing, a journalist pointed out that while the Taliban maintains ties with seminaries that do not oppose women’s education, Kabul remains an outlier.

Responding, Muttaqi claimed that 2.8 million of Afghanistan’s 10 million students are girls and that women can study up to graduation in religious seminaries. “There are certain limitations in specific parts, but that does not mean that we oppose education. We have not declared it religiously 'haram', but it has been postponed until the second order,” he said through a translator.

When pressed that women’s right to higher education has not been protected, Muttaqi avoided a direct reply, instead citing improved security over the past four years.

“Afghanistan has an Islamic rule. In Islam, everyone’s rights are protected, be it men or women. Everyone has freedom. There is no restriction on anyone,” he said.

He added that the Taliban had restored peace after decades of conflict. “Whatever has happened in the past 40 years, when we started ruling four years back, we pardoned most of those who were punished earlier. Even those who destroyed the lives of our people are living a free life in Kabul. We are doing this so that people can realise that blood cannot be erased by blood,” he said. “I myself ride a motorcycle in Kabul without security.”

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, had told the UN Security Council last month that after three and half years of closure of girls’ schools beyond grade 6, “a generation is at serious risk of being lost at a huge long-term cost to the country, and causing enormous concern and despair among Afghan society as a whole”.

Taliban control on Afghan embassy in Delhi

When asked if the Afghan embassy building in New Delhi was now under Taliban control, Muttaqi replied, “This embassy is completely under our (Islamic Emirate) control. All those who fought against us, even they are working with us.” He also reiterated that India had permitted the Taliban to appoint diplomats in the Delhi mission.

However, when a journalist noted that the flag outside the embassy still bore the old tricolour, while the black and white banner stood beside him, Muttaqi responded, “We waged ‘jihad’ under this flag. We fought and we won, and that’s the reason we have this flag here today.”

The embassy is currently run by Sayed Mohammad Ibrahimkhil, the Afghan consul general for Hyderabad, who took charge along with then-consul general in Mumbai, Zakia Wardak, in November 2023. They stepped in after the Republic-appointed ambassador and senior diplomats announced that they would suspend operations in “protest over the conduct of the Indian government.”

The transition took place with the concurrence of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, as both Ibrahimkhil and Wardak, though originally appointed by the Republic, had maintained contact with the Taliban foreign ministry.

Despite Muttaqi’s assertion of Taliban control, the embassy sits in a diplomatic limbo. The property is legally under Afghanistan’s foreign ministry, now administered by the Taliban, but its transition remains incomplete as New Delhi is yet to extend formal recognition to the regime. The continued presence of the Republic’s flag reflects that unresolved position.

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