‘How Dare…’: TMC's Mahua Moitra Slams Centre Over Taliban Minister’s 'Male-Only’ Press Meet In Delhi

Last Updated:October 11, 2025, 08:02 IST

Mahua Moitra criticised the Centre and S. Jaishankar for allowing Taliban FM Amir Khan Muttaqi to hold a male-only press conference in New Delhi, excluding women journalists.

TMC MP Mahua Moitra. (File/PTI)

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Friday lashed out at the Union government and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar after reports surfaced that Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi held a “male-only" press conference in New Delhi.

In a post on X, Moitra questioned how the government allowed the Taliban representative to exclude women journalists from the media briefing while being extended full protocol.

“How dare our government allow Taliban foreign minister Amir Muttaqi to exclude women journalists and hold a ‘male-only’ news conference on Indian soil with full protocol? How dare @DrSJaishankar agree to this? And why did our emasculated spineless male journos remain in the room?" she wrote.

Muttaqi, who arrived in India on Thursday, held talks with Jaishankar on Friday. The meeting, seen as a big reset of ties, saw India announcing that the technical mission in Kabul would be upgraded to an embassy, which was welcomed by the Afghanistan foreign minister.

“India is fully committed to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence of Afghanistan. I am pleased to announce the upgrading of India’s Technical Mission to the status of embassy," Jaishankar said.

Muttaqi serves in the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, a regime notorious for its severe restrictions on women, effectively prohibiting them from employment and public life.

A press conference by Muttaqi in the afternoon at Afghanistan’s embassy, however, saw women being stopped from attending.

Several journalists took to social media to voice their outrage, noting that all women reporters had adhered to the prescribed dress code. Many users online also questioned the decision to bar them from the event.

One journalist wrote on X, “Women journalists were not invited to the press conference of Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Unacceptable."

“In my opinion, the male journalists should have walked out of the press conference as a mark of protest," added the other.

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