Taliban closure of beauty salons removes last safe haven for Afghan women
As I stepped into my local beauty salon here in England to have my nails done ahead of my brother’s wedding, my phone pinged.
It was a catch-up message from a 23-year-old Afghan woman I have stayed in touch with since we met in Kabul last year.
The irony of the timing of her message wasn’t lost on me.
I had been thinking about her and the other young women from Afghanistan I’ve met in the last few years, when the Taliban ordered all beauty salons in Afghanistan to be shut.
“Salons, gyms, universities, baths, it is all just an excuse,” she wrote, “they just want to destroy us, either to be their slaves like their mothers, or be killed.”
When we first met in August 2022, one year after the Taliban’s takeover, she was already afraid of what would come. So afraid that she didn’t want her name or face published – not then and not now.
She and other women we spoke to likened their lives to “being in prison” almost every day, being told what to wear, what to say, and what to do by the Taliban’s ‘morality police’.
The one place, though, they all knew they could catch a break was inside their beauty salons.
They were another world altogether.
The salons allowed women to cast off many of the shackles of public life
When I was working in Kabul last year, I visited one of these salons along with a female journalist friend of mine. No men are allowed inside.
We wanted to see whether the salons were still operating as usual, and we actually just wanted to be in a space where women aren’t judged or vilified just for being a woman.
Mostly dark, thick, ‘inoffensive’ curtains separated the salons from the streets – though some went for bold-coloured curtains, and I liked that, it felt like a small act of rebellion.
Painted nails and skinny jeans
Once women entered those curtains, for a moment they were free.
They were free to take off their black abayas and niqabs and store them in a cupboard and instead walk around in skinny jeans and a ‘nice top’.
They were free to have their nails painted in bright yellows, oranges, and pinks on the toes they aren’t supposed to show.
The owner we spoke to (above) always feared the Taliban would force salons to close
And they were free to say anything they wanted to say while they chatted away and exchanged news as their hair was being cut, coloured, and blow-dried.
One group of young women were gathered in a corner of the two-storey salon getting ready for a family wedding.
They were wearing traditional, colourful Kuchi dresses and ornate jewellery and headwear, with sparkly high heels.
They looked stunning, but they couldn’t show their faces because they didn’t want to get in trouble.
The salon’s owner, a feisty woman full of confidence and positive energy, was happy to talk as she managed her staff and dozens of clients.
She insisted she didn’t want to cover her face for the interview, she wanted to speak openly, though she didn’t want her or her salon’s name published – just in case.
At the time, she talked about the tense relationship between her salon and the morality police.
“The Taliban holds all the power, they could close my business at any time,” she said matter-of-factly. But she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
Some salons had images of women defaced, others chose to remove them when the Taliban took over (below)
Pic: AP
The salon owner is the main breadwinner for her family and said it didn’t make sense to shut salons because they operate behind closed doors and are a vital part of the economy.
She correctly pointed out that not allowing women to finish their higher education, run businesses, or progress in society would have a profound long-term impact on the economy.
I’ve tried to get in touch with her since this latest edict was published, but I’ve yet to make contact.
For now, I can only assume the salon we stepped into has now been shut down.
Every day since foreign troops left Afghanistan, life has become worse and worse for women and girls.
The younger generation, many of whom only knew life under the 20-year NATO command, are a tech-savvy group who – in Kabul especially – are not used to not having their freedoms.
‘I just want to live’
Last month, the United Nations published a report detailing just how much those freedoms have been curbed.
“In Afghanistan today, girls and women are denied education beyond primary level, banned from working outside the home in most sectors, prohibited from accessing public baths, parks, and gyms, and moving freely around the country,” the report stated.
The Taliban have massively rowed back on the freedom of women and girls. Pic: AP
It found that the Taliban has “severely restricted the rights of women and girls and suffocated every dimension of their lives”.
And that is how many women feel: suffocated and invisible.
I still often receive messages like “nobody hears us”, “I need to get out of this scary and dangerous place,” and “I just want to live”.
There are clear divisions within the Taliban, we found that when we were last in Afghanistan.
The younger generation of leadership realise that if they want to be allowed back at the international table they will have to give women and girls their rights back.
But it would appear from the latest order that the old guard are still holding sway.
It may seem like frippery to mourn the loss of beauty salons, but when every other right and freedom has already been taken away, the loss of one of your last remaining safe havens is another huge blow.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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