Local Taliban authorities in Nangarhar province have banned women from selling jewellery accessories at market stalls, according to multiple sources.
The Taliban’s morality police from the Department of Vice and Virtue have told bangle sellers in Nangarhar’s capital Jalalabad on Nawruz (New Year) that they’re prohibited from working in the market and leaving their homes during Ramadan.
At least 12 women who used to sell bangles from street stalls in the city have been restricted from conducting business outside their homes, a source close to the matter who requested anonymity said.
“The number of women [sellers] has reached 12. On Wednesday, Nawruz, the first day of the solar year, the Taliban told them not to go to the market and not to leave their homes during the month of Ramadan,” the source said.
There were no bangle stalls in their regular street location in Jalalabad on Thursday, a witness who visited the area said.
Jalalabad’s Trade Union deputy Shadnoor Mazloomyar said the union is talking to senior officials in the Taliban to lift the ban and allow the women to continue working for their income.
The Taliban’s Nangarhar municipality spokesperson Bakhti Jan Murad told reporters that he has engaged in discussions with officials at the Vice and Virtue department about the restrictions on women street-sellers..
He said that these women will soon be allowed to resume their work.
This latest ban follows a series of directives from Nangarhar’s Taliban authorities prohibiting women from working at nut processing factories and carpet weaving factories.
