Afghanistan to attend UN climate summit

An Afghan delegation will attend the upcoming UN climate change summit in Azerbaijan, the foreign ministry spokesman told AFP on Saturday, marking a first since the Taliban government came to power.

"A delegation of the Afghan government will be in Baku" for the COP29 summit, which opens on Monday in the Azerbaijani capital, the spokesman, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, said.

Meanwhile, women in Afghanistan are not forbidden from speaking to each other, the Taliban government's morality ministry told AFP on Saturday, denying recent media reports of a ban.

Afghan media based outside the country and international outlets have in recent weeks reported a ban on women hearing other women's voices, based on an audio recording of the head of the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV), Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, about rules of prayer.