This was not Kabul. Not Kandahar. This was the capital of India, 

QUCIK READ

• In the heart of India’s democracy, the Taliban’s “womanless” press conference exposed a moral fault line,  between diplomacy and dignity.
  
  

• When women journalists in India are barred by a Taliban delegation, it’s not just about India-Taliban relations, it’s about gender equality in India itself.
  
  

• Press freedom and gender justice are not technical issues; they are the soul of Indian democracy and women’s rights.

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OCTOBER 2025

On a quiet Friday afternoon in New Delhi, inside the walls of the Afghan Embassy, something happened that should never have happened, not in India, not in the world’s largest democracy.

The Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, held a press conference attended by 16 journalists.

Every single one of them was male.

Not a single woman journalist was allowed to enter.

This was not Kabul. Not Kandahar. This was the capital of India, a country that prides itself on equality, democracy, and the constitutional promise of “We, the People,” which includes women.

In living memory, this was perhaps India’s first womanless press conference, and that too, hosted by representatives of a regime, the world has condemned for enforcing gender apartheid.

“Every single one of them was male.

When outrage broke out, the Taliban hastily convened a second press briefing two days later, allowing female journalists this time. The excuse offered?

A “technical issue.”

A ‘Technical’ Problem or a Moral One?

What kind of “technical issue” bars half of humanity from doing their job?
This was no glitch; it was a mindset. And that mindset, on Indian soil, is more than troubling.

For the record, the United Nations calls Afghanistan under the Taliban a gender apartheid state.

Women and girls are banned from secondary and higher education. They are prohibited from working in most sectors, visiting parks, gyms, or traveling without a male guardian.

In 2024, reports from Human Rights Watch noted that over 1.2 million Afghan girls were denied education beyond Grade 6.

Entire departments of gender studies were shut down. Books written by women were removed from libraries and universities.

“over 1.2 million Afghan girls denied education beyond Grade 6

When such a regime’s foreign minister is allowed to hold a press conference in New Delhi without the presence of women journalists, the symbolism is staggering.

It’s not just about Afghanistan’s gender policies anymore. It’s about India’s silent acceptance of them, even momentarily, within its borders.

India’s Diplomatic Dilemma

The Ministry of External Affairs has said it was “not involved” in the event’s organization.

But can the government of a democracy truly distance itself from what happens inside the embassy of a visiting foreign minister on Indian soil?

India has not officially recognized the Taliban regime.

Yet, New Delhi has continued high-level discussions on security, trade routes, and humanitarian issues with Kabul.

The logic is understandable, regional stability, countering Pakistan’s influence, and protecting Indian projects in Afghanistan.

But diplomacy cannot come at the cost of dignity. Strategic engagement does not mean moral blindness.

When a regime that bans girls from school is hosted by a democracy that celebrates Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, the optics are not strategic, they are shameful.

Where Were the Men?

There’s another uncomfortable question: where were India’s male journalists?

Would it have been too much for even one to stand up and say, not without our colleagues?

Solidarity is not merely a slogan. It is the spine of a free press.

The silence of male journalists that day speaks to a deeper complacency, a quiet erosion of conscience in the face of convenience.

India’s Constitutional Conscience

From the Red Fort, the Prime Minister often invokes Nari Shakti, the power of women. India worships goddesses, celebrates women’s achievements, and enshrines equality in its Constitution under Article 15.

Clause 1 of the Article 15 states – The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

Clause 2 of the Article states – No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to-

• Access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or

• The use of wells, tanks, bathing Ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public.

But all those words and laws mean little if, in the heart of Delhi, women journalists can be locked out of a press conference without consequence.

“The silence of male journalists that day speaks to a deeper complacency...

The question is not whether India should engage the Taliban. It is whether India should engage them on their terms.

When India mirrors even a sliver of Kabul’s patriarchy, even “by accident”, it sends a signal to the world: that gender equality is negotiable in the marketplace of geopolitics.

Diplomacy with a Soul

Diplomacy, like democracy, must have a soul. And the soul of India has always stood for something larger, the dignity of every individual, the freedom of thought, and the courage to question.

If India cannot draw a line at the exclusion of its women journalists in its own capital, then where will it draw the line?

Foreign policy is not just about borders and strategy. It is about moral consistency.

The strength of Indian democracy is not tested by those who visit its soil, but by how it responds to them, and what it allows in its name.

“Diplomacy, like democracy, must have a soul.

The next time such a visit is planned, someone, whether in the Ministry of External Affairs or in the press corps, must ask a simple question: If Indian women cannot enter the room, should the event even take place?

Because the test of a nation’s conscience is not in how loudly it speaks about women’s empowerment, but in how quietly it refuses to compromise it.

In the end, it’s not just a press conference that took place.

It was a moment when India’s democratic conscience stood outside the gate, waiting to be let in.