October 12, 2025

A jaw-dropping moment hit New Delhi when women journalists were not allowed to attend the press conference of Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi. This sparked outrage across political lines, with senior Congress leader and former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram speaking out loudly. "I am shocked that women journalists were excluded from the press conference addressed by Mr Amir Khan Muttaqi of Afghanistan. In my personal view, the men journalists should have walked out when they found that their women colleagues were excluded (or not invited)," he posted on X. The controversy blew up after it emerged that the Afghan Embassy in India barred women reporters from the event. Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram attacked the Narendra Modi government for its role, saying, "I understand the geopolitical compulsions that force us to engage with the Taliban, but to acede to their discriminatory & plain primitive mores is outright ridiculous. It’s very disappointing to note the conduct of the Ministry of External Affairs and S Jaishankar in excluding women journalists from the press briefing of the Taliban Minister." Not a single woman reporter was present at the press conference held on Thursday. Amir Khan Muttaqi is on a historic week-long visit to India from October 9 to October 16 — the first high-level Taliban delegation since they took charge in Afghanistan in August 2021. During his visit's first day, Muttaqi met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and discussed ways to strengthen India-Afghanistan ties. In a heartwarming move, India announced fresh healthcare projects for Afghanistan, including a new Thalassemia centre and a modern diagnostic centre in Kabul, plus fixing the heating system at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health (IGICH). But that’s not all. Plans are underway to build a 30-bed hospital in Kabul’s Bagrami district, along with an Oncology Centre, Trauma Centre, and five Maternity Health Clinics spread across the provinces of Paktika, Khost, and Paktia. While India extends a helping hand to Afghanistan’s health sector, the ban on women journalists at the press meet raised serious questions on fairness and gender respect. As P Chidambaram put it, "How dare you?" It’s clear this incident turned what could have been a smooth diplomatic event into a fiery battle of rights and respect for women in journalism.

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Tags: Afghan foreign minister, Women journalists barred, Press conference controversy, P chidambaram, India-afghanistan relations, Taliban visit,