Kabul: The Taliban government is banning women’s beauty parlours in Afghanistan, says a government spokesman, in the latest curb on the rights of women and girls in the country.
The government order followed the decrees barring women from education, public spaces and most forms of employment since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 as US and NATO forces pulled out.
A spokesman for the Taliban-run Virtue and Vice Ministry, Mohammad Sidik Akif Mahajar, did not give details of the ban. He only confirmed the content of a letter circulating on social media.
The ministry’s letter, dated June 24, says it conveys a verbal order from the supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada.
The ban targets the capital, Kabul, and all provinces, and gives parlours across the country a month’s notice to wind down their businesses. After that period, they must close and submit a report about their closure.
The letter does not give reasons for the ban. It comes days after Akhunzada claimed that his government had taken the necessary steps for the betterment of women’s lives in Afghanistan.
