Afghan Beauty Parlors Take A Cut After Taliban Takeover

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
Abubakar Siddique
February 22, 2022

Three years ago, Nida, a young Afghan entrepreneur, established a modern beauty parlor in Shahr-e Nau, an upscale neighborhood in Kabul.

Business steadily grew as she attracted a loyal clientele for beauty and hair treatments in the capital. And as profits rose, the salon expanded, eventually employing half a dozen beauticians and hair stylists.

Nida recalls coming to work with enthusiasm and taking pride in feeling she was providing a welcomed service for Afghan women.

But she closed her salon shortly after the Taliban swiftly seized Kabul in August, well aware that businesses like hers were being defaced with spray paint to cover posters of women models and brides used to attract customers. Some salon owners removed the pictures themselves or painted them over to avoid trouble with the new authorities.

After repeated closures, Nida recently obtained a trade license from the Taliban. But her clientele and peace of mind have disappeared.

“We women are terrified of the Taliban and worried about our future,” she told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “Now, we often wait for just one customer to show up during an entire day.”

Losing An ‘Oasis’

In Kabul, beauty salon owners estimate that most shops have lost more than 90 percent of their business. High-end shops that used to rake in thousands of dollars a month now must live on a few hundred. Most have massively slashed prices for their services, yet fewer customers are showing up.

Nida describes her salon as an oasis where the staff often celebrated with those preparing for occasions such as weddings or engagements. Now, she says, “we are struggling to just put food on the table.”

Fatima, a pseudonym given by a beauty parlor owner in the western city of Herat, agrees. Fatima closed her shop for a week after the Taliban takeover on August 15. But the thought of her family going hungry forced her to overcome her fear of the militants and she opened up shop again.

“I want the Taliban to let women work in all sectors and refrain from forcing them to sit at home,” she told Radio Azadi. “We do not expect anything more.”

Women have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s restrictions. After seizing power, the militants restricted women’s access to education and work and their general presence and role in society. Six months into Taliban rule, teenage girls have yet to return to school.

Women everywhere are either required or encouraged to wear the Islamic hijab. Female students returning to university are made to attend gender-segregated classes. At the same time, many women working for government departments have either been laid off or are receiving little pay. A male guardian must accompany women whenever they leave their homes. And those who demonstrate for greater rights have been arrested and, in some cases, disappeared.

Beauty parlors are a rare venue where women can socialize outside their homes. But Fatima says the Taliban takeover has wrecked her business. She says many of her clients fled Taliban rule and those remaining have lost jobs and livelihoods. Some women are so terrified of the Taliban that they do not want to risk going to the salon.

Fleeing Clients

An estimated 1.5 million Afghans have left their country since the Taliban seized power. A large majority of them were government workers and military officers who formed the backbone of the fallen pro-Western Afghan republic, and their departures have eroded the middle class. Many professionals, entrepreneurs, and those working for aid agencies also left in the chaotic weeks leading up to the final withdrawal of U.S. and Western forces on August 31.

Maryam, a young woman in Kabul, says fewer women she knows can now afford to visit salons. “The economic difficulties have a role in this, but people are mostly afraid [of the Taliban],” she said.

Radio Azadi attempted to reach the Taliban for comment. But Zabihullah Mujahid, the top Taliban spokesman, and his deputies Bilal Karimi and Ahmadullah Wasiq did not respond to repeated requests.

While the Taliban has not said anything about closing or regulating beauty salons, the Taliban’s religious police have issued orders banning men from shaving their beards and trimming their hair in some parts of Afghanistan. Taliban officials say the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice now only advises Afghans on how best to follow Islamic injunctions, but does not enforce them as it did during the Taliban’s first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

To Preserve Its Own Stability, Pakistan Must Stabilize Afghanistan First

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Taliban leader Mullah Baradar with Pakistan’s ISI Chief Faiz Hameed

NYT: The euphoria felt by many in Pakistan over a Taliban victory in Kabul six months ago is subsiding. The government had hoped that a friendly — some would say proxy — regime in Kabul would ease its concerns about the Pakistani Taliban. But instead, there has been a spike in terror attacks in recent months, which Pakistani officials say were planned by militants hiding inside Afghan territories. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban Publicly Flogs Afghan Man Accused Of Adultery

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
February 22, 2022

A man accused of adultery has been publicly whipped by the Taliban in Afghanistan’s southern Uruzgan Province.

Several residents of provincial capital Tarin Kowt told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi that the man was flogged in the city’s central square on February 21 in the morning.

Tarin Kowt resident Noor Agha, who witnessed the public flogging, told Radio Azadi that the Taliban brought a man to the town square in a military vehicle.

They later announced the man’s name and location over loudspeakers, saying they had arrested him in the Chora district for allegedly having extramarital sexual relations with a woman.

According to Agha, the Taliban said the “public punishment is meant as a lesson.”

‌Sultan Muhammad, a 65-year-old eyewitness, told Radio Azadi about the humiliation of the victim.

“The accused was humiliated, and I do not think he would be able to live a dignified life like anyone else in society after this,” Muhammad said.

Photos and videos obtained by Radio Azadi show hundreds of people attended the flogging.

Such public punishments were common during the Taliban’s previous period in power from 1996 to 2001. But this is the first time since the militant group regained power in August that they meted out such a punishment in public.

No information was available about the fate of the woman allegedly involved in the case.

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Taliban Tells Working Women To Cover Up — Even With A Blanket

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
February 22, 2022

The Taliban’s religious police have told working women in Afghan government departments that they must cover up or they may face losing their jobs.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on February 22 said in a proclamation that women should not report to work unless they were properly covered.

It was not immediately clear why the statement was issued at this time. Most women in Afghanistan have always covered their heads in public.

They can wear “any other sort of hijab. It is up to them, but they must [cover up] properly…even wear a blanket,” a ministry spokesman told AFP.

Most women have been banned from their government jobs since the Taliban retook power in mid-August.

But Taliban leaders have claimed they will be allowed to return to work when what they call proper conditions have been established, such as segregated office space.

Since the Taliban seized power, Western officials and activists, along with some inside Afghanistan, have expressed concerns about women’s rights under the extreme conservative rule of the Islamist Taliban leadership.

Women’s rights were severely restricted during the Taliban’s first stint in power until they were driven from government by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Based on reporting by AFP

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Related

Haqqani: ‘Silent’ Intl Recognition of Govt Underway

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Anas Haqqani

Tolo News: Anas Haqqani, a senior member of the Islamic Emirate, said that a process of “silent” or tacit recognition of the Islamic Emirate by the international community is underway, and there have been positive improvements in the political sector. “This is the result of the political efforts–that Kabul is full of embassies today, and in many countries we have opened our own embassies, which is a silent process of recognition,” he said. Click here to read more (external link).

Related

Taliban Reject Fresh US Criticism of Kabul Government

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Zabihullah Mujahid

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 21, 2022

Afghanistan’s Taliban Monday strongly defended their government against fresh criticism by the United States that the male-only leadership in Kabul is “dominated by one ethnicity” and lacks inclusivity.

“This is invalid and we reject it,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA when asked for his reaction to the critical remarks made by the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Tom West.

“In our government, all the requirements within the framework of our society and values have been taken into consideration,” Mujahid insisted.

West said Saturday, while speaking at an international security conference in Germany, that his meetings with Taliban leaders on respecting women’s rights to education and work have been productive, but he found them “rigid” on the question of a representative government.

“There is not one woman in a position of leadership in this government. Overwhelmingly it is dominated by one ethnicity. I think there is a dearth of professionals at the senior most levels of this government who are exceedingly well-educated,” West said.

The Taliban are ethnic Pashtun, the majority group in Afghanistan, and their interim Cabinet mostly consists of senior leaders of the group, including those who are under longstanding terrorism-related U.S. and United Nations sanctions.

The Islamist group regained power from the now-deposed Western-backed government in August and the U.S. along with its NATO allies withdrew all troops from the war-torn country after 20 years.

The Taliban quickly installed an interim government, known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, but the international community has not yet recognized them as the legitimate rulers of the country.

Before considering the legitimacy issue, foreign governments want the hardline group to govern the country through a broad-based ruling system that represents all Afghan ethnicities, respects human rights, including women’s rights to education and work, and disallows terrorists from using the country for cross-border attacks.

Restrictions on women

The Taliban had banned females from education and work in their previous government from 1996 to 2001. Since returning to power six months ago, the hardline group has placed restrictions on women such as requiring them to wear hijab and undertake long road trips only if accompanied by a close male relative.

Most public sector women employees, except for those in the health and education departments, have not been allowed to resume their duties.

Monday, the Taliban Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention Vice, responsible for administering the group’s strict interpretation of Islam, announced that female government employees will be dismissed from jobs if they do not wear all-covering hijabs or veils while at work.

However, the Taliban have opened private and public universities to female students and have pledged to allow all school-age girls back to school in late March. They have blamed delays on financial constraints and the time it takes to ensure that female students resume classes in accordance with Islamic Sharia law.

West stressed on Saturday that Washington is not alone in urging the Taliban to meet the international expectations, saying that Afghanistan’s neighbors along with regional countries, including China, Iran and Russia, are also backing the call.

Taliban leaders traveled to Qatar last week for the latest round of meetings with foreign government representatives, including diplomats from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), on a range of issues, including diplomatic recognition for their government and economic as well as humanitarian aid for Afghanistan.

In its post-meeting statement, the GCC stressed the need for the Taliban to devise a national reconciliation plan that “respects basic freedoms and rights, including women’s right to work and education.”

Pakistan, which shares a long border with Afghanistan and is known for traditionally maintaining close ties with the Taliban, has also been urging them to ensure political inclusivity and respect human rights if they want “mainstreaming” of their country in the community of nations.

However, Pakistan’s national security advisor, Moeed Yusuf, while speaking alongside West at the conference in Germany, said that abandoning Afghanistan would worsen humanitarian conditions in a country ravaged by years of war and natural calamities.

“We cannot punish 35 million Afghans for 30 Taliban that some may not like. At the same time, Pakistan stands for inclusivity, for human rights and for ensuring that there is no terrorism from Afghan soil,” Yusuf said.

Yusuf defended Islamabad’s engagement with Kabul since the return of the Taliban to power, saying decades of conflicts in Afghanistan have undermined Pakistan’s national security and economic interests, including hosting of millions of Afghans.

“For others, it may be a luxury to decide when and how the engagement (with the Taliban) will happen. Pakistan cannot afford instability in Afghanistan,” he said. “We don’t have an option but to engage and we are counseling the world to be pragmatic. Let’s find a way to move forward, incentivize (the Taliban) and get the results all of us want,” Yusuf argued.