Afghan women set up secret businesses to escape Taliban bans

Afghan women weave carpets at a facility in Mazar-i- Sharif on August 10, 2023. (AFP/File)
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Updated 15 August 2023
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Afghan women set up secret businesses to escape Taliban bans

  • Taliban have banned women from most jobs, barred girls from secondary and higher education, restricted movement
  • Few Afghan women continue to run large enterprises from abroad including in mining, logistics and import-export

LONDON: Five months after Taliban supporters smashed up her restaurant, Afghan entrepreneur Laila Haidari opened a secret craft center where women earn a small income stitching elaborate dresses and fashioning jewelry from melted down bullet casings.

Her workshop is among an array of underground businesses that women have launched since losing their jobs after the Taliban grabbed power in 2021, ranging from gyms to beauty salons and girls’ schools.

“I opened this center to provide jobs for women who desperately need them,” Haidari said.

“This is not a permanent solution, but at least it will help them put food on their table.”

The Taliban administration, which marks two years in power on Aug. 15, has banned women from most jobs, barred girls from secondary and higher education, and imposed harsh restrictions on their freedom of movement.

But thousands of women continue to run micro-enterprises from their homes — which officials broadly allow, while others like Haidari oversee more clandestine businesses.

Haidari, 44, used to own a lively Kabul restaurant that was known for its music and poetry evenings and was popular with intellectuals, writers, journalists and foreigners.

The profits were plowed into a drugs rehabilitation center she set up nearby.

But a few days after the Taliban seized the country, gunmen and locals threw out the rehabilitation center’s patients, destroyed her restaurant and looted the furniture, Haidari said.

Her handicrafts enterprise now subsidises an underground school providing 200 girls with lessons in maths, science, and English. Some attend in person, others online.

“I don’t want Afghan girls to forget their knowledge and then, in a few years, we will have another illiterate generation,” she said, referring to the women and girls deprived of education during the Taliban’s last rule from 1996 to 2001.

The center, which also makes men’s clothing, rugs and home decor items, employs about 50 women who earn $58 a month.

“If the Taliban try to stop me I’ll tell them they must pay me and pay these women,” she said.

“Otherwise, how will we eat?“

MALE CHAPERONES

The Taliban’s return to power has rapidly reversed two decades of internationally backed efforts to boost economic opportunities for women that saw donors pour several billion dollars into empowerment programs.

Most businesses set up by women prior to 2021 were informal cottage industries like bakeries, but they had increasingly made inroads into traditionally male sectors such as IT, media services, exports, travel agencies and even construction.

Others, like Haidari, were running cafes and restaurants – also considered a male domain in Afghanistan, given the taboos around women interacting with men outside the home.

A few Afghan women continue to run large enterprises from abroad in sectors including mining, logistics and import-export.

But many others have closed their businesses amid Afghanistan’s severe economic crisis. The Taliban takeover triggered the meltdown after foreign governments cut funding and froze the country’s bank assets.

The crisis has hit all businesses hard, but the difficulties for women are compounded by Taliban curbs on their movement including a ban on travel without a “mahram” — a male relative to act as a chaperone.

Dressmaker Wajiha Sekhawat, 25, used to go to Pakistan and Iran to buy fabrics for her tailoring studio in the western city of Herat, from where she creates outfits for clients inspired by celebrities’ social media posts.

With her income already squeezed by the economic crisis, she cannot afford to take a chaperone with her. But when she sent a male family member to Pakistan in her place he returned with the wrong fabrics.

Sekhawat’s monthly income has fallen from about $600 to $200 or less. Demand for party dresses and outfits for professional women plummeted after most lost their jobs.

The Taliban’s rules on chaperones make it difficult for women to buy raw materials, meet people to do business with or sell their merchandise. The restrictions also make it harder for female customers to reach them.

“I used to make regular business trips abroad by myself, but now I can’t even go out for a coffee,” Sekhawat said.

“It’s suffocating. Some days I just go to my room and scream.”

BEAUTY SALONS SHUT DOWN

The Taliban’s restrictions are particularly hard for the country’s estimated 2 million widows, as well as single women and divorcees. Some are their family’s sole breadwinner, but may not have anyone to act as a mahram.

After her husband’s death in 2015, Sadaf relied on the income from her busy Kabul beauty salon to support her five children.

She offered hairstyling, make-up, manicures and wedding makeovers to a clientele ranging from government workers to TV presenters.

Sadaf, 43, who asked to use a pseudonym, began running her business from home after the Taliban told her to shut her salon.

But with clients having lost their own jobs, most stopped coming, or cut back. Her monthly income dropped from about $600 to $200.

In the aftermath of the Taliban takeover, social media was awash with images of beauty salons where posters of women’s faces had been painted over. But rules varied between districts and many businesses — unlike Sadaf’s — were allowed to reopen.

However, last month the authorities ordered all salons to shut, saying they offered treatments that went against their Islamic values.

More than 60,000 women are likely to lose their jobs, according to industry estimates.

Sadaf fears the Taliban will also start targeting women like her providing treatments from their homes.

WOMEN’S MICRO ENTERPRISES

Despite erasing women from most areas of public life, the Taliban have not banned them from running businesses, and some aid organizations continue to oversee employment projects.

Global charity CARE runs a large program which started before the Taliban took power.

“There is so much demand because no one wants to have to be reliant on humanitarian aid,” said Melissa Cornet, an adviser to CARE Afghanistan.

“Women are just desperate to get any type of livelihood they can.”

But aid agencies have had to adapt their programs.

“We’ve had to refocus more on training women in crafts they can do from home — tailoring, embroidery or making foodstuffs like cookies, jams, pickles etc,” Cornet said.

“Some had wanted to set up small shops but today it would be super challenging to do that.”

Although incomes are typically less than $100 a month, Cornet said this could be life-changing for a family at a time when unemployment is through the roof and 85 percent of the population is living under the poverty line.

Aid agencies said they promoted the economic benefits of allowing women to work when negotiating with Taliban authorities.

“We tell them if we create jobs it means that these women can feed their family, it means they are paying taxes,” Cornet said.

“We try to have a pragmatic approach and usually it’s quite successful. The Taliban are very keen on the economic argument.” 


Most Filipinos in favor of rejoining ICC, study shows

Updated 4 sec ago
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Most Filipinos in favor of rejoining ICC, study shows

  • Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2019 under ex-president Rodrigo Duterte
  • 57 percent of respondents support rejoining the court, while 37 percent are against it

MANILA: The majority of Filipinos support the Philippines rejoining the International Criminal Court, the results of a new opinion poll showed on Monday.

The Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2019 under ex-president Rodrigo Duterte, as the court’s prosecutors began to look into his “war on drugs” campaign in 2016-22, which they estimate has resulted in the extrajudicial killings of 30,000 Filipinos.

Despite the Philippines’ withdrawal, the court has issued an arrest warrant against Duterte, as it keeps jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed while a country was a member.

The current administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. complied with the arrest warrant and Duterte has been in ICC custody since March, awaiting trial. The Marcos’s spokesperson, Claire Castro, said earlier this month that he was also “open to talking about” rejoining the ICC.

The move would be supported by 57 percent of Filipinos, according to the latest survey by OCTA Research.

“A clear 57 percent of Filipinos support the Philippines rejoining the ICC. In contrast, 37 percent are opposed, and 6 percent remain undecided, indicating broad, though not unanimous, public backing for renewed engagement,” the Quezon City-based polling and research firm said in its report.

The study was conducted between April 20 and April 24, on 1,200 respondents in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

In Mindanao, where Duterte traces his political roots and despite detention won the mayoral election last month, the support for rejoining the ICC was the lowest.

“In Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, and the Visayas, at least 60 percent of respondents express support,” the OCTA Research report said. “In Mindanao, however, is an exception — with only 30 percent supporting the move and 66 percent expressing opposition, the highest rate of opposition recorded across regions.”

The highest rate of support for reengagement with the ICC was among people aged 25-34, with 62 percent of them in favor of the move, while the lowest support was among those aged 45-54, at 50 percent.

Duterte’s arrest has likely contributed to awareness about the ICC across the Philippines, with 85 percent of adult Filipinos claiming to have seen, read, or heard about the court and only 13 percent reporting being unaware of it.

“This widespread awareness sets the stage for significant national conversations on justice, accountability, and the Philippines’ potential reengagement with the ICC,” OCTA Research said.

“Awareness levels are consistently high nationwide. In Metro Manila, 89 percent of respondents indicated familiarity with the ICC, followed closely by Balance Luzon (86 percent), Mindanao (85 percent), and the Visayas (77 percent).”


EU warns Armenia about Russian ‘hybrid threats’

Updated 30 June 2025
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EU warns Armenia about Russian ‘hybrid threats’

YEREVAN: The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas urged Armenia to protect its democratic values amid “hybrid threats” from Russia on a visit to Yerevan on Monday.
Ties between Armenia and its traditional ally Russia have been strained since Azerbaijan’s 2023 offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh, in which Moscow did not intervene.
Russia has for years been the main mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But Brussels has played a stronger role recently, with Russia tied up with its Ukraine invasion.
Kallas visited several days after Armenia arrested a powerful cleric accused of plotting a coup against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
She said she discussed “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and specifically Russian hybrid activities in all countries” with Armenia’s foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
“Armenia’s commitment to democracy and freedom is key. These values must be protected, especially in the face of hybrid threats, disinformation, and foreign interference,” she said.
Mirzoyan warned Moscow against interfering in its internal political affairs after the arrest of powerful cleric Bagrat Galstanyan.
But speaking in Kyrgyzstan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Armenia against turning away from Moscow and against “attacks on the canonical, millennia-old Armenian Apostolic Church.”
“We do not put any pressure on Armenian authorities, we will wait for clarity on all these issues,” Lavrov said according to Russian news agencies.
“But we all understand that if Armenia turns away from its allies, its closest partners and neighbors, it will hardly be in the interests of the Armenian people,” he added.
Mirzoyan said Lavrov “would do better not to interfere in Armenia’s internal affairs and domestic politics,” calling on Russian officials to “show greater respect for the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia.”
Kallas said “the EU and Armenia have never been as close as we are now.”
She announced a new EU-Armenia partnership and a 270-million-euro “resilience and growth plan for 2024-2027.” She also welcomed Armenia’s move to initiate an EU accession process earlier this year.
Kallas re-affirmed the EU’s support to normalizing relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.


Cyprus invites Turkiye’s Erdogan to summit despite long rift over 1974 invasion

Updated 30 June 2025
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Cyprus invites Turkiye’s Erdogan to summit despite long rift over 1974 invasion

NICOSIA: Cyprus said on Monday it would invite arch-foe Turkiye to a summit during its European Union presidency next year despite a decades-long rift over Ankara’s 1974 invasion and its backing of a breakaway state on the divided island.
Nicosia will hold the rotating EU presidency in the first six months of 2026 and plans a summit of regional leaders, including Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, on issues related to the Middle East, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said.
“You can’t change geography — Turkiye will always be a neighbor state to the Republic of Cyprus .. Mr.Erdogan will of course be welcome to this summit to discuss developments in the area,” he told journalists in Nicosia.
Christodoulides had earlier said the same in a British podcast aired on Monday in response to a question, saying the summit was planned for April 2026.
The Turkish presidency did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the invitation to Erdogan.
Cyprus and Turkiye have no diplomatic relations and hosting a Turkish president might prove challenging both because of the diplomatic tightrope arising from past conflict and logistical issues.
The eastern Mediterranean island was partitioned by a Turkish invasion in 1974 sparked by a brief Greek-inspired coup, and Ankara supports a breakaway, unrecognized state in north Cyprus where it stations thousands of troops.
Christodoulides heads a Greek Cypriot administration that represents all of Cyprus within the EU but with its powers stopping at a ceasefire line splitting the island into northern and southern sections. Erdogan has never visited the south.


A hard right lawmaker is sworn in as Greece’s migration minister

Updated 30 June 2025
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A hard right lawmaker is sworn in as Greece’s migration minister

  • Thanos Plevris, 48, is expected to maintain Greece’s hard line in migration policy

ATHENS: A hard-right lawmaker was sworn in Monday as Greece’s migration minister, replacing a fellow right-wing political heavyweight who resigned following accusations of involvement in the distribution of European Union farm subsidies.
Five high-ranking government officials, including the previous migration minister, Makis Voridis, three deputy ministers and a secretary general, resigned last Friday following allegations they were involved in a scheme to provide EU agriculture subsidies to undeserving recipients.
The funds, which were handled by a government body known by its Greek acronym OPEKEPE, were allegedly given to numerous people who had made false declarations of owning or leasing non-existent pastures or livestock.
Thanos Plevris, 48, succeeded Voridis and is expected to maintain Greece’s hard line in migration policy. Both Plevris and Voridis joined the conservative New Democracy party in 2012, from the right-wing populist Popular Orthodox Rally, or LAOS, party.
Voridis has denied any involvement in the alleged farm subsidy fraud and said he resigned in order to clear his name.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has investigated the case, passed on a hefty file to the Greek Parliament last week that includes allegations of possible involvement of government ministers. Lawmakers enjoy immunity from prosecution in Greece that can only be lifted by parliamentary vote.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said his New Democracy party had failed to stamp out graft.
“Significant reform efforts were made,” Mitsotakis said in a social media post. “But let’s be honest. We failed.”
He said anyone found to have received EU funds they were not entitled to would be ordered to return the money.
“Our many farmers and livestock breeders who toil and produce quality products, and all law-abiding citizens, will not tolerate scammers who claimed to have non-existent pastures and livestock, or those who enabled them to do so,” Mitsotakis said.


Scorching temperatures grip Europe, putting regions on high alert

Updated 30 June 2025
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Scorching temperatures grip Europe, putting regions on high alert

ANKARA: Forest fires fanned by high winds and hot, dry weather damaged some holiday homes in Turkiye as a lingering heat wave that has cooked much of Europe led authorities to raise warnings and tourists to find ways to beat the heat on Monday.
A heat dome hovered over an arc from France, Portugal and Spain to Turkiye, while data from European forecasters suggested other countries were set to broil further in coming days. New highs are expected on Wednesday before rain is forecast to bring respite to some areas later this week.
“Extreme heat is no longer a rare event — it has become the new normal,” tweeted UN Secretary-General António Guterres from Seville, Spain, where temperatures were expected to hit 42 Celsius (nearly 108 Fahrenheit) on Monday afternoon.
Reiterating his frequent calls for action to fight climate change, Guterres added: “The planet is getting hotter & more dangerous — no country is immune.”
In France, which was almost entirely sweltering in the heatwave on Monday and where air conditioning remains relatively rare, local and national authorities were taking extra effort to care for homeless and elderly people and people working outside.
Some tourists were putting off plans for some rigorous outdoor activities.
“We were going to do a bike tour today actually, but we decided because it was gonna be so warm not to do the bike tour,” said Andrea Tyson, 46, who was visiting Paris from New Philadelphia, Ohio.
Authorities in Portugal issued a red heat warning for seven of 18 districts as temperatures were forecast to hit 43 degrees Celsius, a day after logging a record June temperature of 46.6 degrees C. Almost all inland areas were at high risk of wildfires.
In Turkiye, forest fires fanned by strong winds damaged some holiday homes in Izmir’s Doganbey region and forced the temporary closure of the airport in Izmir, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Authorities evacuated four villages as a precaution, the Forestry Ministry said.
In Italy, the Health Ministry put 21 cities under its level three “red” alert, which indicates “emergency conditions with possible negative effects” on healthy, active people as well as at-risk old people, children and chronically ill people.
Regional governments in northwestern Liguria and southern Sicily in Italy put restrictions on outdoor work, such as construction and agricultural labor, during the peak heat hours.
In southern Germany, temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) were expected on Monday, and they were forecast to creep higher until midweek – going as high as 39 degrees (102F) on Wednesday.
Some German towns and regions imposed limits on how much water can be taken from rivers and lakes.