Taliban authorities in Kabul have intensified their crackdown on women’s ability to work and earn a living by recently shutting down dozens of home-based beauty salons.
According to an Afghan TV report, several female beauticians in Kabul reported that agents from the Taliban’s morality police raided their homes, confiscated salon equipment, and forced their families to sign written pledges prohibiting the women from continuing their work.
Some beauticians also stated that their mobile phones were inspected without explanation during the raids.
The affected salons had been operating in private homes since the Taliban banned all formal beauty salons in July of the previous year.
“Some of our colleagues warned us that Taliban officers were going door to door,” one beautician told the broadcaster. The report quoted Afghan women beauticians as saying, “They took our tools and warned us we’d be arrested and taken to court if we continued. I’ve hidden my equipment elsewhere, but I still live in fear.”
The women reported that in addition to confiscating their tools, Taliban agents demanded that their male relatives report to local district offices, where they were made to sign written guarantees. The report also mentioned that some women complained of inappropriate behavior by the agents.
It was claimed that some Taliban officials had previously demanded bribes to allow salons to operate discreetly, only for those same businesses to be raided later.
While officials from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have detained beauticians before and released them hours later, the current campaign appears to be more forceful and widespread.
