Taliban orders shutting down of beauty salons in Afghanistan

Kabul: The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has ordered the shut down of all beauty and hair salons across the war-torn nation, in the regime’s latest restriction against women.

A Vice and Virtue Ministry spokesman told the BBC that businesses had one month to comply, starting from July 2 when they were first informed of the move.

The spokesman, however, did not mention the reason for the latest measure.

When the Taliban were in power between 1996 and 2001, beauty salons were shut as part of a wide range of measures imposed by the extremist group.

The businesses however, reopened in the years after the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Following the fall of Kabul in August 2021, the salons remained in service but shop windows were often covered up and images of women were spray painted to hide their faces, the BBC reported.

Since coming to power, the Taliban regime has also barred teenage girls and women from classrooms, gyms and parks, and most recently even banned them from working for the UN.

The Taliban further decreed that women should be dressed in a way that only reveals their eyes, and must be accompanied by a male relative if they are travelling more than 72 km.

The restrictions have received widespread international condemnation.