Afghan interim govt intensifies crackdown on home-based beauty salons: report

The interim government in Afghanistan has reportedly expanded its ban on beauty salons to include home-based services. This move has left numerous women with no means of financial support.

Several beauticians across the country have reported that interim rulers' agents are now conducting unannounced raids on private residences suspected of hosting covert salons. 

According to local media reports, these agents have confiscated salon equipment, inspected women's mobile phones, and forced families to sign written apologies vowing to cease operations.

“They even took my tools,” a Kabul-based beautician told Amu TV on condition of anonymity. “They threatened that if I resume work, I’ll be arrested and taken to court.”

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Another woman described how the agents refused to let her enter the room she used for her salon. “They made me remove my sign and said my male relatives must report to the district office,” she said.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which oversees the interim government's moral enforcement, had previously banned all public beauty salons in July 2023. 

At the time, salon owners were given one month to shut down operations. In the face of that sweeping ban, many women turned to offering services quietly from their homes. Now, those private efforts have also become targets.

Human rights activists have condemned the latest campaign as yet another move to stifle Afghan women's economic freedom and personal agency. 

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“Around the world, people have the right to study, work, and support their families. We are no different,” one activist said. “But the interim rulers once again are punishing women who were just trying to survive.”

There have also been reports of interim rulers' officials demanding bribes in exchange for allowing home salons to operate discreetly, only to arrest the women later. Some beauticians have accused the agents of harassment and inappropriate behaviour during the raids.

The closure of beauty salons is part of a broader pattern of restrictions imposed by the interim rulers since regaining control of Afghanistan in August 2021. Women and girls have been barred from secondary education, most employment, and public spaces, with increasing scrutiny placed even on private aspects of their lives.