On the Foreign Scene
In the latest restriction faced by women from the Talibans, hair and beauty salons in Afghanistan have been ordered to shut .
According to a Vice and Virtue Ministry spokesman , businesses had one month to comply, starting from 2 July when they were first informed of the move.
The Talibans have barred teenage girls and women from classrooms, gyms and parks, and most recently even banned them from working for the United Nations.
The Taliban have also 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 72km (48 miles).
Despite international condemnation and protests by women as well as activists speaking up on their behalf, the restrictions have continued.
Shutting beauty salons was part of a wide range of measure imposed by the Taliban when they were last in power between 1996 and 2001. But they reopened in the years after the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Reacting to the new closure, an Afghan woman speaking anonymously said that the Taliban are taking away the most basic human rights from Afghan women.
She said that they are violating women’s rights and are now depriving women from serving another women.
She said that the Talibans are trying to eliminate women at every level of public life.
The Taliban government has not explained what prompted the ban, or what alternatives, if any, would be available to women once the salons shut.
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