The circulation of a photo showing the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan alongside a Pakistani woman has triggered widespread reactions on social media. In the image, Sardar Ahmad Shakib, the Taliban’s ambassador in Islamabad, is seen with Mishal Hussain Malik, the wife of Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik. Yasin Malik is currently imprisoned in India after being convicted on charges related to separatist activities. Following the backlash, reports emerged claiming that the Taliban altered the image using artificial intelligence, removing two women from the photo and adding three men. Mishal Hussain Malik wrote on her account on X that she met Sardar Ahmad Shakib during an iftar reception hosted by Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan. She said discussions during the meeting covered issues related to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Iran. The photo’s circulation has drawn particular attention as girls’ education beyond the sixth grade remains banned in Afghanistan, and the use of women’s images in advertising has recently been severely restricted. Reacting to the controversy, a person identified as Mobeen, who describes himself as a Taliban general, wrote on X that the photo is fake, though he acknowledged that the account of the woman who shared it is real. Meanwhile, Mohammad Halim Fidai, a former provincial governor during the previous Afghan republic, wrote that the policy of “everything being forbidden in Afghanistan but allowed in Pakistan” should end and that Afghan women and girls must be granted their rights. Shukria Sirat Afghan, a civil society activist, also commented that the Taliban leader’s anti-women decrees appear to apply only within Afghanistan.
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