Biden’s Afghanistan: Taliban Use Tasers, Guns Against Women Protesters

Dozens of women made a rare show of defiance against the brutal Taliban regime in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul on Wednesday, marching against the ban on beauty salons issued early this month by the extremist government.

The regime responded by dispatching thugs to disperse the women with fire hoses, tasers, and gunfire.

The Taliban announced its edict against beauty salons on July 3, giving hundreds of establishments across the country less than a month to shut down. The decree ostensibly came from reclusive Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. 

Taliban officials later claimed the ban was necessary because beauty salons offer services forbidden under Islam, such as plucking eyebrows and fitting wigs. They also decided beauty services were a waste of money for their subjects and said heavy eye makeup could distract women from prayers.

Human rights monitors noted that not only would the order deny popular services to women, but it would put tens of thousands of women out of work since most employees of the salons are female. The Taliban has driven the country into poverty and starvation since seizing control in August 2021 following President Joe Biden’s disastrously bungled withdrawal of American troops. Many Afghan salon employees say they are the only source of income for their families.

The Associated Press on Wednesday spoke with beauticians who courageously gathered in Kabul to protest the ban. “We are here for justice. We want work, food, and freedom,” one woman said.

“All of us, 50 to 60 women, participated. Our slogan was work, bread, and freedom,” said another.

The women got not work, food, and freedom but firehoses, taser darts, and bullets. After a few hours, Taliban thugs hosed the women down with water and fired rifles in the air to disperse their march. Some demonstrators said they were hit with stun guns. Eyewitnesses said several protesters were dragged into vehicles by the Taliban and taken to unknown destinations.

“Today, we arranged this protest to talk and negotiate. But today, no one came to talk to us, to listen to us. They didn’t pay any attention to us, and after a while, they dispersed us by aerial firing and water cannon,” a dismayed protester told Al Jazeera News.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan tweeted:

Reports of the forceful suppression of a peaceful protest by women against the ban on beauty salons – the latest denial of women’s rights in Afghanistan – are deeply concerning. Afghans have the right to express views free from violence. De facto authorities must uphold this. 

However, the organization failed to explain how it planned to make the Taliban uphold anything.

In fact, the Taliban’s “Ministry of Vice and Virtue” followed up the attack on female protesters by posting photos of “immoral” materials seized in Kabul and destroyed in bonfires. The contraband included musical instruments.

“These materials, which were collected from immoral programs in Kabul and some provinces in the past few months, and which caused the loss of our youth and the deterioration of society, were destroyed according to sharia,” the ministry said. Sharia means Islamic religious law.

The Ministry of Vice and Virtue dismissed criticism of excessive force against female protesters, saying they “should have paid attention to the notification we had issued earlier.”