New Delhi, Sept. 30 -- Nearly 200 delegates gathered in Islamabad this July for the ninth Organization of Islamic Cooperation Ministerial Conference on Women. Among the fifty-seven flags on display, one seat remained empty. Afghanistan had been invited to send an authorized female representative, but no delegate arrived.

The Taliban government does not have a woman in a senior enough position to send as its representative. That absence mattered, but what followed mattered even more. In an audio message, the Taliban's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, called the OIC's efforts for the welfare of Islamic countries commendable, and said Afghanistan supports its work.

In the same breath, he said, without naming any organization, that rights rec...