Absence of women at presser wasn't intentional: Taliban FM

More than a dozen women journalists attended a news conference on Sunday by Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who said their absence at another interaction two days ago wasn't by design.

- Rezaul H Laskar

Taliban authorities faced strong criticism from India’s opposition political parties and journalist bodies over the exclusion of women at Muttagj’s first news conference on Friday. He is the first senior Taliban functionary to travel to India.

The first question at Sunday's event from a foreign journalist related to the absence of women journalists at the news conference on Friday, and Muttaqi replied: “With regards to the press conference, it was organised at short notice. A small list of journalists was finalised. It was more of a technical issue.”

He added, “Our colleagues had decided to send invitations to specific journalists and there was no other intention.”