Taliban minister with Indian female journalists

It's often said that a picture can speak a thousand words.

The one in Indian newspapers on Monday morning showing female journalists occupying front-row seats at the Afghan Taliban foreign minister's press conference in Delhi is certainly one of those.

The conference - the second press event by Amir Khan Muttaqi at the Afghan embassy in about 48 hours - was called after a huge uproar over the exclusion of women from his first meeting on Friday.

Muttaqi said at Sunday's conference that the exclusion was unintentional and not "deliberate

With regard to the [Friday's] press conference, it was on short notice and a short list of journalists was decided, and the participation list that was presented was very specific.

"It was more a technical issue... Our colleagues had decided to send an invitation to a specific list of journalists and there was no other intention apart from this," he added.

The UN has referred to the situation in Afghanistan as "gender apartheid" where women and girls are not allowed to attend secondary school or university, visit parks or gyms. The jobs they are allowed to do are increasingly restricted and the Taliban government enforces head-to-toe coverings and restricts their travel.

The Taliban government, which retook power in 2021, has previously said it respects women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Afghan culture and Islamic law, but Western diplomats have said their attempts to gain recognition have been hampered by the curbs on women. The suppression of women's rights under their rule is the harshest in the world.

Muttaqi arrived in India on Thursday for a week of high-level talks with the government from Russia, the only country so far to fully recognise their government.

Delhi has not formally recognised Afghanistan's de facto rulers, but it is one of a number of countries that maintain some form of diplomatic or informal relations with them, even maintaining a small mission in Kabul and sending humanitarian aid there.

The visit is being seen as a ramping up of relations between the countries and is key for both - the Taliban government receives a boost in its quest for recognition, while India advances its strategic and security interests. On Friday, Muttaqi met Foreign Minister S Jaishankar who announced that India would reopen its embassy in Kabul which was shut after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

The press event later in the day was attended by around 16 male reporters while female journalists were turned away from the embassy gates.

A source in the Taliban government had admitted women had not been invited to attend.

India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it "had no involvement in the press interaction" as it was held at the Afghan embassy.

But the gender discrimination on Indian soil angered politicians and journalists who criticised the government for letting it happen.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said that 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".