On October 12, journalists, men and women, walked into the Afghanistan embassy in New Delhi, which looked ghost-like over the last couple of years. The globally recognised flag of the democratically elected government, overthrown violently on August 15, 2021, still fluttered in the wind outside.

The press interaction that followed marked a major climb down for the Taliban — one for the history books. Within 48 hours, Taliban Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi was forced to address a second press conference — this time with women journalists seated on the front row along with their male colleagues.

Barring the exception of two, none of the women were in headscarves. A volley of hard-hitting questions about the rights of young girls and women of Afghanistan to be educated and be a

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