Women protest Taliban ban on beauty salons in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – Dozens of women organized a rare public protest in the capital Kabul on Wednesday against the closure of beauty salons in Afghanistan.

They held a placard with the slogan: “Do not take away our bread and water”

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has ordered the closure of all beauty salons for women.

Taliban security forces fired shots in the air and used water cannons to disperse the demonstration.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned the use of force against the demonstrators.

The mission said Afghans have the right to express their opinions freely and without fear of reprisals.

The closure of the beauty salons is the latest in a series of restrictions on women’s rights by the Taliban.

The Taliban has also banned women from working in most government jobs and from attending college.

These restrictions have been widely condemned internationally, and many fear that the Taliban is returning to the repressive policies of its earlier rule in the 1990s.

The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice issued a letter on June 24 conveying a verbal order from the supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. 

On July 4, Mohammad Sidik Akif Mahajar, a spokesman for the ministry, confirmed the contents of the letter, which had been circulating on social media.

The spokesman justified the order, saying the salons charge exorbitant amounts of money for makeup and that some of the procedures performed, such as plucking eyebrows and adding hair extensions, are illegal.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice gave women’s salons a month to close their doors.