The Taliban’s morality enforcers have raided four women’s beauty salons operating secretly in Kabul over the past two days, detaining several beauticians and seizing their equipment, local sources said Wednesday.
The raids took place in the Dasht-e-Barchi are in the west and Shahr-e-Naw neighborhood in downtown Kabul, where women had been running clandestine salons since the Taliban formally banned the industry in 2023 under an edict by their supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
According to witnesses, Taliban enforcers from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stormed the salons, confiscated tools and products, and took the women into custody. The beauticians were released after several hours of questioning, but some said they were insulted and humiliated during their detention.
“When they found out we were working, they raided our house and verbally abused us,” said one beautician, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “We are the breadwinners of our families. Shutting down these salons and the constant threats have put us in a serious crisis.”
Several salon workers told Amu TV that district security officers had previously demanded payments ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 Afghanis ($140 to $1,400) in exchange for allowing them to continue operating in secret. Despite paying the money, they said they were still arrested by officials from the vice and virtue ministry.
Sources also said ministry agents pressured the women to make additional payments if they wanted to resume work, raising concerns about widespread extortion.
Women’s rights activists condemned the raids, calling them part of the Taliban’s systematic crackdown on women’s freedoms and livelihoods. “This is not just about closing beauty salons. It’s about stripping women of their last avenues for economic survival and public presence,” said one activist, urging the international community to respond.
Beauty salons, once a source of income for thousands of Afghan women, were shuttered nationwide two years ago after Taliban authorities declared them “un-Islamic.” Many women continued to run small salons in secret to feed their families. With the latest raids, activists warn that even those limited opportunities are being extinguished.
