fghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi held a press conference in New Delhi on Sunday, where women journalists were present, following criticism over their absence at his first briefing on Friday.

Many female journalists sat in the front row during Sunday’s event, the second press conference by Muttaqi in three days.

Responding to the criticism, Muttaqi said there had been no intention to exclude women from Friday’s press briefing. “The press conference was called at short notice. The participation list was prepared with specific journalists, and it was neither a technical issue nor any deliberate exclusion,” he told reporters.

The Editors Guild of India and the Indian Women Press Corps (IWPC) had strongly condemned the earlier event, describing it as “blatant gender discrimination on Indian soil”.