Women journalists challenge Taliban minister in Delhi as India deepens Kabul ties

Women take the front rows as diplomacy advances

Women journalists took the front rows at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi on Sunday to question Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi about restrictions that have pushed Afghan women out of classrooms, workplaces and public life. Their appearance followed an embassy briefing on Friday from which women reporters covering foreign affairs had been excluded while male colleagues were admitted.

The confrontation brought two developments into the same room: India's effort to build closer contacts with Kabul and demands that the Taliban answer for its treatment of women. After meetings between Muttaqi and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India said it would upgrade its presence in Kabul from a technical mission to a full embassy. India has not recognized the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government.

Muttaqi's visit, lasting a week, was his first foreign mission of this scale since the Taliban reclaimed power in 2021. For the Taliban, the meetings offered an opportunity to present expanding diplomatic contacts as steps toward international acceptance. For the women questioning him, the immediate issue was whether that outreach would include scrutiny of policies enforced at home.

Three days after being shut out of a scheduled media event, women journalists entered the embassy and publicly challenged a representative of an administration composed entirely of men. Cameras captured a scene sharply different from the first press meeting of the visit.

The dispute also put India's own standards under examination. In a country that presents itself as a champion of press freedom and gender equality, Indian press bodies and opposition politicians challenged the exclusion as a violation of local norms. Their objection was concrete: a visiting delegation should not be allowed to bring discrimination against women into its dealings with the Indian press.

What changed between the two briefings

Friday's exclusion prompted public criticism, exchanges among journalists and demands for a second opportunity to ask questions. By Sunday, women had received invitations, entered without being told to cover their hair and been given seats at the front.

Journalists who attended both briefings said the backlash mattered. Colleagues shared contact lists, pressed for women to be included and pledged solidarity. At the second event, male reporters stood aside so women could occupy the front rows.

The visit's main developments unfolded in this order:

• On Friday, women reporters covering foreign affairs were denied entry to the embassy press event while male colleagues attended.
• Following meetings between Muttaqi and Jaishankar, India announced that its technical mission in Kabul would become a full embassy.
• By Sunday, women journalists had been invited to another embassy briefing, where they questioned Muttaqi about education, employment and the exclusion at the first event.

Inside the second briefing, questions were brisk and direct. Reporters challenged the Taliban's education bans, restrictions on work and the gap between its leaders' public statements and the conditions women face in Afghanistan.

Muttaqi faced several rounds of questioning without the constraints his administration imposes at home. For Afghan women kept off air, off campus and off the street, the exchange offered a rare public challenge to a senior Taliban official.

Muttaqi faces questions about girls' education

Independent journalist Smita Sharma put the central issue to Muttaqi in a question reflecting the concerns of Afghan families whose daughters have lost access to education.

Why are you doing this in Afghanistan? When will they be allowed to go back and get the right to education?

Muttaqi, the Taliban foreign minister, attributed the exclusion of women from the first briefing to arrangements made at short notice.

It was organised on short notice. A short list of journalists was invited. It was a technical issue, there were no other problems.

He also defended the Taliban's record on education, giving figures for attendance and pointing to religious institutions.

We have 10 million students attending schools and other educational institutes, of which 2.8 million are women and girls. In religious seminaries, this educational opportunity is available all the way to graduation. There are certain limitations in specific parts, but that does not mean we oppose education.

His figures place women and girls at 28 percent of the 10 million students he described. Girls remain barred nationwide from general secondary and higher education, while most women are blocked from professional life. Short courses in religious institutions cannot replace accredited schooling or university degrees, or restore routes into employment that restrictions have closed.

Reporters pressed him against those conditions, and skepticism in the room was palpable. The exchange produced a defense of Taliban policy rather than a timetable for reopening secondary schools and universities to girls and women.

Indian press bodies condemn unequal access

The Press Club of India challenged the idea that a visiting delegation could decide access to the Indian press on discriminatory terms. Its statement called for government action.

We strongly condemn the exclusion of women journalists and call on the government to ensure that no foreign power is permitted to dictate the terms of engagement with the Indian press.

The Editors Guild of India described the exclusion as a direct breach of equal access.

This is blatant gender discrimination on Indian soil.

India's Ministry of External Affairs said it had no involvement in the embassy press interaction. Many journalists considered that response inadequate because their concern extended beyond who had organized the event to whether discrimination would be challenged.

Suhasini Haider, Diplomatic Editor of The Hindu, attended the second briefing. She described the initial reaction and explained why journalists feared the first event could become a precedent.

Our first response was outrage. We had hoped the government would at least say something. The idea that a representative of the Taliban, a government not recognized by India, could come to Delhi and host a press conference without women should never become a precedent.

Opposition politicians accused the government of silence and of allowing discrimination in the capital. Some called on male reporters to walk out, while others demanded a public clarification from the Prime Minister and the foreign ministry.

The criticism centered on a standard that journalists and politicians said should apply regardless of the visitor: women must have equal access to press events in India. Sunday's invitations changed access to that briefing, while the first event continued to fuel demands for clear ground rules.

What the restrictions mean inside Afghanistan

Afghanistan is the only country where girls and women are barred from general secondary and higher education. The consequences reach from teenage classrooms to universities and the professions that depend on their graduates.

Teenage girls have lost years of schooling. University students have been sent home. Female employees in many sectors have been ordered to stay away from work. Restrictions described by officials as temporary have become a daily reality for families trying to plan their children's education or maintain an income.

Taliban decrees and directives also regulate dress, travel and work. Women cannot travel long distances without a male guardian. Parks, gyms and beauty salons are among the public places that have been closed to them.

Professional opportunities, including civil service jobs and many roles in health care, have withered under sweeping bans and intimidation. Aid organizations have struggled to operate when female staff are barred, and women's health suffers when they cannot see female professionals.

United Nations experts and rights advocates have described the system as gender apartheid. The term describes the intentional separation and subordination of women, capturing how restrictions across education, work, movement and public space reinforce one another.

In July 2025, the International Criminal Court sought arrest warrants for two senior Taliban figures, citing the persecution of women and girls as evidence of crimes against humanity. If confirmed by judges, the cases would place that persecution within international criminal law, rather than leaving the issue to arguments about culture alone.

The practical costs are immediate. A girl excluded from secondary school loses the next stage of learning. A woman prevented from working loses income and independence. An aid organization without female staff has greater difficulty reaching people who need its services. Together, those restrictions reshape everyday life far beyond the classroom.

Afghan newsrooms have lost outlets and staff

Afghanistan's media industry has contracted sharply since the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Surveys by press freedom organizations found that 231 outlets shut within months, a loss of more than four out of ten outlets operating before August.

The number of people working in Afghan media fell by more than half. Women suffered the deepest losses: more than eight in ten women journalists left or lost their jobs during that early period. In many provinces, no women remain on air.

The figures show why the scene in Delhi carried weight beyond the embassy. Women journalists there could question a Taliban minister directly while many Afghan women had lost the jobs and broadcasting platforms through which they once questioned officials or told their communities' stories.

Closures are only part of the pressure. A local watchdog documented at least 183 cases of violence and more than 90 arrests during the first year after the takeover. The vast majority were attributed to Taliban forces.

Reporters describe a working environment shaped by fear and the need to obtain permission. Under informal rules, coverage of protests, security and many social subjects requires clearance. Female voices are pushed off air, and state media bar women from presenting.

A journalist in southern Helmand province explained how official permission affects routine reporting.

Before we cover a story, we have to inform the provincial authorities of the topic and get their permission.

Economic collapse has deepened the damage. International aid and advertising that once supported local radio and television have evaporated. Owners unable to pay staff have cut programming, replaced it with religious content or closed their outlets altogether.

The public receives less information as a result. Women, already facing restrictions on movement, education and employment, also have fewer opportunities to be heard through the media.

Why India is expanding contact with Kabul

India maintained channels to Afghanistan after 2021 through a small technical mission that helped deliver aid and provide consular services. Upgrading that presence to a full embassy marks a deeper level of engagement with Kabul.

Muttaqi traveled under a United Nations Security Council waiver permitting limited travel for official business. Many Taliban leaders, including him, remain under Security Council sanctions. The waiver allowed the visit and meetings with Indian officials, alongside the delegation's public relations effort with the media.

India's interests include regional stability, trade routes to Central Asia, cooperation against terrorism and the safety of its citizens and projects in Afghanistan. Strained relations between the Taliban and Pakistan create openings that Delhi may regard as useful.

Those strategic interests help explain why India is developing contacts while continuing to withhold recognition of the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government. India also says it remains committed to democratic values, making the treatment of women journalists during the visit a domestic issue as well as a diplomatic one.

Other governments have pursued different levels of engagement. Russia has announced formal recognition of the Taliban. Other countries operate embassies in Kabul without granting recognition.

Diplomats and analysts regard progress on women's rights as a central measure for broader international acceptance. In Delhi, that issue moved into the foreground as women reporters questioned the minister about girls denied schooling and women excluded from work.

The visit therefore brought together two pressures on the Taliban leadership. Officials could point to expanding diplomatic contact, while journalists demanded answers about the restrictions that continue to shape life in Afghanistan.

Concrete changes would reach beyond the press room

For Afghan girls, a meaningful change would begin with secondary schools and universities reopening everywhere, with accredited curricula and genuine access. Religious courses alone leave the wider educational and employment barriers in place.

Women would also need to be allowed to work across government, media, civil society, health, education and the private sector. Ending the requirement for a male guardian to travel or obtain services would restore choices now constrained by official rules.

Aid agencies would need permission for female staff to return. Restoring access to parks, salons and recreational spaces would allow women to take part in public life again. Transparent rules consistent with Afghanistan's international obligations, together with independent monitoring, would make changes easier to assess.

In India, the embassy episode has prompted officials and media organizations to consider how press interactions with visiting delegations should be handled. Clear ground rules could help prevent another event from excluding reporters because they are women.

The journalists who took the front rows showed that collective pressure could change access to a briefing. The larger test lies inside Afghanistan, where girls remain outside secondary schools and universities, women face sweeping limits on work and movement, and newsrooms operate under restrictions and financial strain.

At a Glance

• Women journalists excluded from a Friday embassy briefing in Delhi attended a second event on Sunday and questioned Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
• Muttaqi called the first exclusion a technical issue and said 2.8 million of 10 million students were women and girls, while nationwide bans on general secondary and higher education remain.
• The Press Club of India and Editors Guild of India condemned the exclusion. India's foreign ministry said it was not involved in the embassy event.
• India announced that its technical mission in Kabul would become a full embassy. It has not recognized the Taliban government.
• Muttaqi traveled under a United Nations Security Council waiver while remaining subject to sanctions.
• Afghan media surveys recorded 231 outlet closures within months of the 2021 takeover, with more than eight in ten women journalists leaving or losing their jobs.
• Russia has announced recognition of the Taliban, while women's rights remain central to demands for broader international acceptance.