'I am crying at my salon': Taliban orders Kabul beauty parlors to shut down

A Taliban edict issued this month will shutter some 3,000 women-run salons in Kabul. Above: A young woman visits a a beauty salon in Kabul to prepare for a wedding party. A ministry spokesman said the reason for the ban was that Afghan men are pressured to go into debt to pay for wedding makeovers for brides and their womenfolk. (Elise Blanchard/Washington Post via Getty Images)

KABUL – Afghan women are reacting with panic and dismay as a Taliban ban on beauty salons looms in the capital Kabul. It is the latest of dozens of edicts curbing women and girls from public life. The restrictions are so severe that the U.N. has warned that the Taliban may be responsible for gender apartheid and the crime against humanity of gender persecution.

The ban on beauty salons is also likely one of the most economically bruising for women since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan nearly two years ago. When it comes into effect at the end of July, it will shutter some 3,000 women-run salons in Kabul, which employ many thousands. The salons were one of the few places where women could openly work under Taliban rule.