Shocked and appalled! No women journalists allowed for Taliban minister's presser in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: The ban on women journalists during the Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s presser in Delhi invited shock and disappointment in equal measure. The press conference was held at the Afghan Embassy in India. The women journalists were barred from entering the room and were blocked by officials. Many protested, but to no avail.

Many female journalists fumed on social media over the primitive treatment meted out to them despite many of them following the Taliban instructed dress codes.

The Afghan Foreign Minister arrived in India on Thursday. He held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar yesterday. India has offered necessary assistance to the health sector in Afghanistan, including immunisation. The Indian embassy in Kabul will reopen soon. It will also help in the reconstruction of houses damaged in the earthquake in Afghanistan. It was agreed in the discussions that food aid will also continue.

India also agreed to provide 20 ambulances, MRI and CT scan machines, vaccines and cancer drugs for hospitals in Afghanistan. Jaishankar personally handed over five ambulances to the Afghan minister. India will also build a 30-bed hospital, an oncology centre, trauma centre in the Bagrami district of Kabul and five maternity health clinics in some other provinces.