Photo of Women in Attendance Is Not From Afghan Minister’s Controversial Presser

This photo is from a separate event held by Delhi-based think-tank Vivekananda International Foundation.

A photo from a different event is being shared to falsely claim that women journalists were present during Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on 10 October.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A photo showing women among the people attending an event is being shared on social media.

The claim: The photograph is being shared to claim that contrary to what was said, women were present during Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi's press conference at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi on 10 October 2025.

Why is this being shared?: Muttaqi's presser faced heavy backlash after photographs of the event showed that no women journalists were present, given the Taliban-led government's denial of basic rights to its women.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

But...?: The claim is misleading, as the photo is not from the press conference at the Afghan embassy.

• It shows visuals of an interaction held at Delhi-based think-tank Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF).

How do we know?: We ran a reverse image search on the photo, which led us to the official X account of the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF).

• It had shared the same photo in a set of images from a VIF interaction by Muttaqi, where the conversation "underscored the deep economic, historical, cultural, and civilizational ties between the two countries."

The image was shared by VIF's official account.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

TThe image was also in a report by Malayalam news report by Madhyamam as one from a VIF event.

The controversial presser: On 10 October, Afghan Foreign Minister held at press conference with his Indian counterpart, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi.

• Images shared from the Afghan ministry's X account show no women journalists in attendance.

• Following the backlash over the exclusion of women, he reportedly issued a clarification, saying that not inviting women to the presser was a "technical issue."

• Responding to criticism about how the Indian government would allow this discrimination on Indian soil, official sources told India Today that the MEA had no part in the press meet.

Attempting to rectify the situation, Muttaqi held a second press conference on 12 October, with women journalists in attendance.

Conclusion: A photo from an event by think-thank VIF is being shared with the misleading claim that women were a part of Afghan Foreign Minister Muttaqi's first presser in India.

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