Taliban 'shut down' home-based beauty salons in Kabul, seize equipment

KABUL: Taliban authorities have closed dozens of home-based beauty salons in Kabul in recent days, with morality police reportedly raiding residences, confiscating equipment, and compelling families to pledge an end to such work, Afghan media reported.

According to Afghan TV report, several female beauticians in Kabul reported that agents from the Taliban’s morality police raided their homes and seized salon equipment, intensifying their crackdown on women’s right to work and earn a living.

Some of the beauticians also said their mobile phones were inspected without explanation during the raids. The affected salons had been operating in private homes since the Taliban banned all formal beauty salons in July last year.

“Some of our colleagues warned us that Taliban officers were going door to door,” one beautician told the broadcaster. “They took our tools and warned us we’d be arrested and taken to court if we continued. I’ve hidden my equipment elsewhere, but I still live in fear,” the report quoted Afghan female beauticians as saying.

The women say Taliban agents not only confiscated tools but also demanded that male relatives report to the local district offices, where they were made to sign written guarantees. Some also reported inappropriate behaviour by the agents, the report read.

The report claimed that some Taliban officials previously demanded bribes in exchange for allowing salons to operate quietly, only for those same businesses to be raided later.

Taliban officials from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have previously detained beauticians, releasing them hours later. The current campaign, however, appears more forceful and widespread.