New Delhi, Oct. 28 -- India recently extended a warm welcome to a Taliban delegation led by the group's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. The Taliban's human rights record, particularly its regressive and misogynistic policies, is well known. While developing relations with the Taliban may be a geostrategic requirement, women in Afghanistan-deprived of basic rights such as education and assembly-must feel utterly betrayed, especially after women journalists were denied entry into the group's first press conference. Following widespread criticism, women were permitted to attend the next one.

Rise and Ideology of the Taliban

When the Taliban came to power, their decrees shocked the world. This is the same group that destroyed the...