Despite rare public opposition to the edict, the Taliban has decreed that all beauty salons in Afghanistan must now close as a one-month deadline has ended, putting thousands of women out of work.

A spokesman for the Taliban-run Virtue and Vice Ministry did not indicate whether it would use force against salons that do not comply.

This ruling is the latest restraint on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls following edicts barring them from education, public spaces and most forms of employment.

According to the Taliban, it made the decision to ban beauty salons because they offered services forbidden by Islam and caused economic hardship for the families of grooms during wedding festivities.