Taliban ordered to close all beauty salons in Afghanistan

Beauty salons have sprung up in Kabul and other Afghan cities since the overthrow of the Taliban in a US-led invasion in late 2001. Credit: WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP

The Taliban have ordered the closure of all beauty salons in an effort to further restrict women's freedom in Afghanistan.

«The deadline for closing beauty salons for women is one month,» Mohammad Sadiq Akif. , a spokesman for the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and the Propagation of Virtue said on Tuesday.

Violators of the order will face «legal action,» the feared ministry warned in an official notice.< /p>

Makeup artists denounced the latest curtailment of women's rights as draconian and warned it would exacerbate the hardships faced by families facing a burgeoning economic crisis in Afghanistan.

“The new ruling shocks me and many other makeup artists. We are starving in a climate of high inflation, and now we are facing a situation where our families will starve to death,” a makeup artist from the capital Kabul told The Telegraph.

“This ban will further exacerbate the struggle of Afghan women and deprive them of hope for a better future. This will put hundreds of female beauticians out of work, who make money in this business for their families,” she added.

Beauty salons appeared in Kabul and other Afghan cities months after the Taliban were overthrown by the US invasion at the end of 2001.

Those who do not close their salons face 'judicial prosecution' Photo: JORGE SILVA/REUTERS

Many of them have remained open since the group returned to power two years ago, albeit operating in secret, with signs and windows closed.

Their impending closure is due to that the Taliban continue to push women out of public life by closing most girls' secondary schools, keeping women out of universities and banning them from gyms and parks.

These moves sabotaged the group's activities. post-war economic recovery efforts in the face of soaring food prices and widespread job losses.

The United Nations estimates that 34 million Afghans, representing 85 percent of the country's population, currently live in poverty. Nations.

“Men are unemployed. When men are unable to take care of their families, women are forced to work in a beauty salon to find a loaf of bread. If they are banned there, what can we do?” an unnamed makeup artist told Afghan news channel TOLO.

In December, the United Nations was forced to suspend numerous «urgent» aid programs in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned women from humanitarian work in the country, forcing tens of thousands of women to helpers are out of work.

The Taliban say they respect women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan customs.