July 4, 2023 – 7:06 PM
The Taliban has ordered the closure of hair and beauty salons in Afghanistan as part of its latest crackdown on women. A spokesman for the Ministry of Ethics in the Taliban a to the BBC He said companies have one month to comply. The Taliban government did not explain the reason for the ban or what alternatives would be available to women after the salons closed.
“The Taliban are robbing Afghan women of the most basic human rights, they are violating women’s rights. (…) When I heard the news, I was completely shocked. It seems that the Taliban have no political agenda other than dealing with women’s bodies. An Afghan woman told the BBC on condition of anonymity “They try to exclude women from all levels of public life.”
Another Afghan woman, who also asked not to be named, said her friends had assured her that hair salons in Kabul and other Afghan cities were closed. “This is even more shocking news for Afghan women,” she said.
An Afghani beauty salon in Mazar-i-Sharif on June 27, 2023 – Photo: Atif Arian/AFP
The Taliban, who returned to power in August 2021 after the withdrawal of US forces, also ordered women to wear clothes so that only their eyes are visible and that they must be accompanied by a male relative if they travel more than 72 kilometres.
In the past, beauty salons in Afghanistan were allowed to remain open, but often the windows were boarded up and pictures depicting women were painted. The Taliban recently banned women from going to university, banning them from swimming pools, gyms, and even amusement parks.
