Meghan Markle, the British king's daughter-in-law, hosted a number of Afghan women in California for the second year in a row.

The programme included dinner and poetry reading and was held as part of the "Welcome" project to support Afghan women living in the United States.

Meghan Markle met with Afghan women who sought refuge in the United States after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on Saturday night.

In the programme, Afghan women shared their experiences and discussed different cultures and traditions.

The purpose of this event is to create cultural exchange and solidarity among the participants.

At the invitation, guests read poetry and shared their experiences of immigration and new life in the United States. Also, Afghan women were served Middle Eastern cuisine at the meeting.

"We continue to uplift women and strengthen society through shared experiences, and we emphasise on the importance of unity and support during difficult times," the Archewell Foundation wrote.

Meghan Markle, the British king's daughter-in-law, had previously met with Afghan women in Southern California in February 2023, and at that time they had cooked with 15 Afghan women.

This programme is organised by the Archewell Foundation and Mina’s List. Since 2014, Mina’s List has been working with women activists and political leaders in Afghanistan to promote gender equality, and in 2021 it helped evacuate and resettle more than 2,000 Afghan women and families.

This visit and the efforts of Afghan women activists abroad indicate the deterioration of the situation of women and the human rights crisis inside Afghanistan. Women and girls in Afghanistan are subject to the Taliban's most severe restrictions and have been deprived of the right to education, work, and social and political activities. Human rights organisations have accused the Taliban of widespread human rights violations and say the Taliban have established "gender apartheid”.