- The deputy ministry confirmed that the Taliban have a deadline of one month.
- The ministry spokesman did not give the reason for the bandh.
- “I think it would be better if women did not exist in this society.”
The Taliban administration has ordered the closure of beauty salons in Afghanistan, fresh restrictions on women and keeping them away from public places.
The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Evil confirmed on Tuesday that the Taliban had been given a one-month deadline to comply with the orders.
Thousands of businesses run by women will be forced to close, leaving them jobless.
The Taliban have imposed several restrictions on Afghan women since returning to power in 2021. They have barred teenage girls from attending classes, gyms and parks.
A manager of the Kabul parlor, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP: “I think it would be better if women did not exist in this society.”
“I’m saying this now: I wish I didn’t exist. I wish we weren’t born in Afghanistan, or from Afghanistan.”
They have also been banned from working for the United Nations or NGOs while thousands have been dismissed from government jobs.
Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq Akif Muhajir did not give the reason behind the closure.
“Once they stop, we will share the reason with the media,” he added. AFP,
A salon employee said, “The women talked, gossiped. There was no fighting, no noise.”
He said, “When we see some happy and active faces here, we also get refreshed. Salon has a very important role; this place makes us feel comfortable.”
Richard Bennett, who is a special correspondent for Afghanistan, wrote in a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council that the living conditions of Afghan women were “the worst in the world”.
They wrote, “The grave, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the heart of the Taliban’s ideology and governance, which also raises concerns that they may be responsible for gender apartheid.”
