Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid dismissed questions on girls’ education and the cancelled trip of the group’s foreign minister to India, describing both as “minor” issues.

Speaking at a press conference in Kabul on Monday, Mujahid declined to elaborate on whether the new development strategy included provisions for girls’ education beyond primary school and at universities. He said the document addressed education only in general terms.

The briefing came a day after the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee confirmed to Afghanistan International that India had withdrawn its request for a travel exemption for Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, whose visit to New Delhi had been scheduled for 27–29 August.

When pressed on the issue, Mujahid again called the matter “minor.”

During the same briefing, the microphone of a female journalist was cut off as she attempted to ask a question. Under the Taliban’s interpretation of its “Promotion of Virtue” law, women’s voices are considered “awrah,” or intimate, and are restricted in public.

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have barred girls from secondary school and university education, drawing widespread criticism from Afghans, rights groups and the international community.