RASC News Agency: A growing number of female beauticians in Kabul have come forward with disturbing allegations against members of the Taliban, accusing them of sexual harassment, coercion, and extortion under the guise of religious enforcement. The women claim that Taliban fighters some affiliated with local security units have made inappropriate and morally reprehensible advances toward them while simultaneously threatening their livelihoods. In interviews with the independent broadcaster Amu TV, several beauticians reported receiving unsolicited and explicit messages from Taliban personnel, often through WhatsApp. One woman described how the commander of a local security district sent her romantic messages, followed by an “immoral offer” in exchange for allowing her beauty salon to remain open. Upon rejecting his advances, she said she was forced to shut down her salon and relocate for her safety.
According to the testimonies, Taliban officers from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have repeatedly raided women-only salons, using vulgar and accusatory language to label them as “immoral” during inspections. Several beauticians said they were publicly shamed, accused of violating Islamic norms, and intimidated into silence. Other salon owners revealed that they were coerced into paying monthly bribes ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 kabuli rupees to local Taliban authorities in exchange for permission to operate. Yet even after paying these amounts, they remained vulnerable to arbitrary arrests, threats, and closure orders.
These revelations come amid a broader crackdown by the Taliban on Afghanistani women’s visibility in public life. Over the past three weeks, the group has intensified its campaign of detaining women on the streets of Kabul for allegedly failing to adhere to the group’s ultra-conservative dress codes. In recent days, Taliban vice and virtue enforcers stormed multiple beauty salons across the capital, reportedly detaining dozens of female beauticians and transporting them to undisclosed locations. This sustained assault on women’s rights and dignity is symptomatic of the Taliban’s deeply patriarchal governance model one that not only strips women of professional and personal agency but also enables a culture of impunity for male perpetrators within its ranks.
The Taliban’s public posture claims to uphold “Islamic values,” yet these documented abuses by their own members highlight a stark hypocrisy: while Afghanistani women are harassed, silenced, and criminalized for working, those enforcing these so-called “moral codes” exploit their power to violate the very norms they claim to defend. Despite mounting evidence and international condemnation, the Taliban leadership has neither acknowledged these abuses nor taken any steps to investigate or discipline the alleged perpetrators. As long as this silence and complicity persist, Afghanistani women particularly those working in public-facing roles remain at acute risk of exploitation, repression, and violence.
