Yesterday, Taliban Morality Police stormed a women’s beauty salon in Kabul that had been quietly operating inside a private courtyard. Witnesses say the forces behaved aggressively, issued threats, and seized all the salon’s equipment. By targeting beauty salons, eyewitnesses add, the Taliban not only strip women of their personal freedoms but also wipe out family livelihoods, making their systematic repression of women even more visible through intimidation and confiscation of property.
According to witnesses, the salon and the courtyard belong to a family whose only breadwinners are three daughters who run the business. Sources say the Taliban Morality Police acted with extreme rudeness and humiliation and warned the family that if the salon reopened, the courtyard would be confiscated and they would have no right to lodge any complaint.
Munawara Sahebzada (pseudonym), the salon’s owner, says the business was the family’s sole source of income. She recalls with despair that three days before the seizure, Taliban Morality Police repeatedly came to the salon, as if watching and waiting.
Sahebzada says that on Sunday at 3:30 p.m., three Taliban Morality Police entered the salon. They carried out a thorough inspection and took photographs of the equipment. Munawara says they demanded to know who the male head of the family was, even though she herself supports the household. She explains that the only men in the family are her father, who has heart disease, and her 10-year-old brother.
“The Taliban’s Morality Police wanted to take my brother with them,” Munawara says. “After my mother resisted and spoke to them for a long time, they accepted our explanation and left.” She adds that the next day, the Morality Police returned. This time, they acted even more offensively, gathered the equipment, and sealed the salon. They warned that if the work continued, they would also confiscate the family’s private courtyard and leave them with nothing.
Munawara describes what happened next. “Yesterday at 10:00 a.m., we were working inside the salon. A woman came in and said we had a bride. We went back to work when three men suddenly entered. We had only one door, so we sent the customers out and dismissed the trainees. I put on my hijab and went outside to speak to them, but they did not listen and immediately started collecting the equipment.”
She says she tried desperately to convince the Taliban Morality Police to leave the equipment behind, explaining that it was the family’s entire investment. She promised they would stop working altogether. The Taliban refused and even threatened to kill her.
“The salon was inside our private courtyard,” Ms. Sahebzada says. “They told us that if they saw us working again, they would confiscate the courtyard so nothing would remain for us. I apologized, cried, and said I would sell the equipment and never work again, but they ignored me. When I begged them repeatedly, one of them raised his gun and said he would shoot.”
“They sealed the salon completely,” she continues. “Their behavior was cruel and humiliating. They took everything, from cartons of hairpins and hair spray to other cosmetics. They left us with nothing. Only a wardrobe and a few chairs remain.” Sahebzada says they also warned the family not to take photos or videos, saying they would check their smartphones and confiscate the courtyard if any footage was shared.
Munawara, 23, speaks with tears in her eyes. “We do not know where to go or what to do. This salon was our only source of income.” She says the Taliban’s action has left her, her two sisters, and 12 trainees unemployed. “All of us lost our jobs,” she says. “Why does no institution pay attention to this? Why does the United Nations not do anything for us?”
Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, the group has imposed systematic restrictions on women on a scale never seen before.
In June 2025, Mohammad Sadiq Akif Mohajer, the former spokesperson of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, told the media that all women’s beauty salons had been shut down by an oral order from Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban Supreme Leader. Following this order, the operation of women’s beauty salons was declared illegal, and the ministry instructed Taliban municipalities not to issue licenses for women to open such businesses.
At the same time, an investigative report by the Hasht-e Subh Daily reveals that beauticians who work in secret are exhausted by extortion and bribery by Taliban security districts. They say they continue working out of desperation, simply to feed themselves and their children, yet face constant threats and demands for money. Some beauticians add that certain clients exploit Taliban influence, threatening to report them if they charge money or refuse to provide services at very low prices. In addition, Taliban fighters who visit salons for extortion often take cosmetic items with them, including makeup, hair dye, and other beauty supplies.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
