Taliban Order Kandahar Shopkeepers to Remove Goods Featuring Images of Women

The Taliban’s Directorate for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Kandahar has directed shopkeepers to erase or remove all products that display images of women from stores and display windows. The order covers cosmetics such as creams, shampoos, henna and dyes.

Officials have also warned importers that goods carrying such images will not be cleared through customs in Kandahar and will be seized. Merchants in several districts of the province said they have already been required to manually erase images from more than fifty items, a process that adds time and expense to their operations.

Shopkeeper Dawood Shah said the directive forms part of a widening campaign. In recent months, images of children have been removed from school buses, polio vaccination advertisements, education materials and public awareness campaigns on walls and other public surfaces across Kandahar.

Traders reported that the measures are expected to result in financial losses and further complicate day-to-day business activities.