The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has ordered beauty salons to close within a month, the morality ministry said, in the latest shrinking of access to public places for Afghan women.

“The deadline for the closing of beauty parlours for women is one month,” Mohammad Sadiq Akif, a spokesperson for the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue, said on Tuesday, referring to a ministry notice.

(via Memeorandum)

[It’s not just the loss of access to beauty products. These salons providing opportunities for employment for women, who have seen those shrink radically since August 2021, plus a rare forum for friendship and camaraderie outside the control of male family members. The plight of women in Afghanistan is appalling, all the more so because it was a choice our government made. — Ed]