The criticism had notably come from India’s opposition Congress party, which rebuked the Narendra Modi government. There were calls for the Indian government to clarify its position on the matter and questioned its silence on the “discrimination”.
Subsequently, Indian news agency ANI posted a video of Muttaqi on X today, in which he was seen clarifying the matter in Pashto.
The Afghan foreign minister said, “Our teams had contacted a limited number of journalists for the press conference, and only those journalists were invite … It later emerged that some journalists were not on the list. It was nothing more than that.
“Our colleagues thought that those who had been on the list should be invited. So, the participants were limited. It was just this decision and no other.”
Indian politicians and journalists have criticised the government for failing to speak out after female journalists were excluded from a press event with the Afghan Taliban foreign minister in Delhi.
Around 16 male reporters were selected to attend a forum on Friday with Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi at the Afghan embassy. Journalists observed women and foreign media being turned away.
India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it "had no involvement in the press interaction" at the Afghan embassy.
A source in the Taliban government admitted women had not been invited to attend.
They told the BBC "female journalists were excluded due to lack of proper coordination and will be invited to next conference if held in Delhi".
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said by allowing the event to go ahead, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "telling every woman in India that you are too weak to stand up for them".
The Editors Guild of India strongly condemned the exclusion and said: "Whether or not the MEA coordinated the event, it is deeply troubling that such a discriminatory exclusion was allowed to proceed without objection."
It called for India's government to "publicly reaffirm that press access at diplomatic events held in India must respect gender equity".
Muttaqi is in India for a week of high-level talks with the government. On Friday, he met with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar who announced that India would re-open its embassy in Kabul. It was shut after the Taliban returned to power.
Since 2021, the Taliban government has imposed numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law which have severely impacted the rights of Afghan women and girls.
Following the men-only press event, Rahul Gandhi said on social media: "In our country, women have the right to equal participation in every space."
Indian politician Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked Modi to clarify his position on "the removal of female journalists" from the gathering.
She asked how "this insult to some of India's most competent women" had been allowed in "a country whose women are its backbone and its pride".
Others expressed shock and said the men who went to the event should have walked out in solidarity with their female colleagues.
"Why did our emasculated spineless male journos remain in room?" wrote politician Mahua Moitra on social media.
She added: "Government has dishonoured every single Indian woman by allowing Taliban minister to exclude women journalists from presser. Shameful bunch of spineless hypocrites."
While there has been no official comment from the government of India, Dawn earlier reported that the decision on media invitations was taken by Taliban officials accompanying Muttaqi on his India visit. It quoted sources as saying that the Indian side had suggested to the Afghan delegation that women journalists be included among the invitees.
The criticism over the absence of women journalists notably came from opposition leader in India Rahul Gandhi, who posted on X: “Mr Modi, when you allow the exclusion of women journalists from a public forum, you are telling every woman in India that you are too weak to stand up for them. In our country, women have the right to equal participation in every space.
“Your silence in the face of such discrimination exposes the emptiness of your slogans on Nari Shakti (woman power).“
His post followed Congress General Secretary Priyanka Vadra’s message, in which she asked whether the prime minister’s recognition of women’s rights was “just convenient posturing from one election to another”, and questioned how such an “insult to some of India’s most competent women” could have been permitted.
“Prime Minister @narendramodi ji, please clarify your position on the removal of female journalists from the press conference of the representative of the Taliban on his visit to India,” she said on X.
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh posted on X: (Tali)ban on female journalists in India. Shocking and unacceptable that the govt of India agreed to it — and that too in New Delhi on the eve of the International Day of the Girl Child.“
Similarly, former finance minister P. Chidambaram said: “The men journalists should have walked out when they found that their women colleagues were excluded (or not invited).
Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja, tagging the Indian foreign minister in his X post, asked: “Was it just Taliban misogyny or a tacit endorsement of it on Indian soil? The Republic of India is built on equality. We are the nation which gave women voting rights from day one, when many Western countries lagged behind.
“To allow such exclusion here is blasphemy to our constitutional spirit.” Raja urged the ministry of external affairs to explain how it agreed to “permit this discriminatory spectacle”.
“This is not a diplomatic nuance. This is nourishment to patriarchal ideology that wants to erase half the world from public life. We must call it out, without hesitation,” he added.
The Afghan Taliban, who promised a softer rule after retaking power in Kabul in August 2021, have imposed sweeping restrictions on women, banning them from universities, public parks, gyms and beauty salons — measures the UN has labelled “gender apartheid”.