Taliban minister quizzed on women's rights in front of female journalists in India

The Taliban's foreign minister faced questions on Afghan girls and women being banned from education and work as he sat down for a rare press conference in Delhi yesterday, attended by female journalists.

- ARPAN RAI

Amir Khan Muttaqi, a UN-sanctioned leader and senior minister in the Taliban’s de facto regime in Afghanistan, claimed education of girls and women was not “haram” - declared forbidden under laws governing Islam - and has been postponed until the next order of the country’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Afghanistan is the only country in the world where the government has banned girls and women from their basic rights, including being seen in public parks, gymnasiums, mosques, markets and salons.

The Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls and freedom of expression have drawn criticism from rights groups and foreign governments since the former insurgents resumed control of Afghanistan in 2021.

Taliban officials have previously claimed they respected women's rights in accordance with their strict interpretation of Islamic law. But they have also tightened controls on women’s access to public life, barring them from university and high school.