The Taliban PVPV enforcers have instructed community representatives in parts of Kabul to identify and report home-based women’s beauty salons, warning them of punishment if they fail to cooperate, multiple local sources told Amu TV.
The directive was issued by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV) in District 11 of the capital, where each neighborhood is overseen by a local liaison known as a wakil-e-gozar — a traditional community representative who serves as a point of contact between residents and local authorities.
According to residents and communications reviewed by Amu, Taliban morality enforcers summoned these representatives in the District 11, north of Kabul, and warned them that if they did not actively help locate and report beauty salons operating in private homes, they would face punitive action and lose the right to lodge complaints or raise concerns with the authorities.
Messages shared among representatives show some them encouraging one another to identify active salons within residential compounds and report them to the ministry. In one voice message viewed by Amu, a vice and virtue officer said: “To all representations, if there is any beauty salon in any home or shop, they are banned and they are not allowed to operate. They must be advised to close their salons, otherwise they will not have the right to complaint.”
In another voice note, a Taliban PVPV enforcer says, “To the representatives of the District 11, we ask you to take this issue seriously. You advise them to close the beauty salons if there is any in any home. If they don’t close it, inform us, but if we find any afterwards, you will not have the right to complain.”
Supporting the Taliban message, a member of the District 11 Council of Religious Scholars referred to such salons as a “shameful and corrupt phenomenon,” urging strong measures. “We call on the scholars of District 11 to take a firm stand. We are united with the virtue officers in this righteous struggle,” the message read.
The Taliban formally banned all beauty salons across Kabul and other cities in 2022, forcing thousands of women out of work. In response, many beauticians moved their services into private homes, operating covertly to avoid detection.
However, last month, sources told Amu that Taliban’s PVPV enforcers had raided and closed dozens of these underground salons in Kabul and detained several women working as beauticians.
Rights groups have condemned the Taliban’s tightening restrictions on women’s access to employment, public life and personal autonomy. The enforcement of these bans — including through pressure on local community structures — is seen as part of a broader campaign to erase women’s visibility from public and economic life in Afghanistan.
