Taliban tightens grip on Herat, closing women-only cafes

Herat’s women-only cafes were forced into closure after Taliban authorities threatened to shut them down and then began doing so, ending one of the few places where women could gather, network and earn money in public. At least three such cafes were closed in one week in 2024, and other owners were warned they could be next after officials accused the businesses of playing music and violating hijab rules.

Herat is Afghanistan’s third-largest city and the economic center of the west, a highway crossroads on the Harirud River that long served as a Silk Road hub. Its old city, with the blue minarets of the Friday Mosque of Herat and the Qala Ikhtyaruddin citadel, helped make it a cosmopolitan outpost with deep traditions of literature, Sufism, art and public life.

The Taliban captured Herat on August 13, 2021, after attacks on the city began around July 28. In September 2021, about 60 to 80 women protested outside the governor’s compound demanding the right to work. Human Rights Watch later that year found that the Taliban in Herat were carrying out widespread and serious human rights violations against women and girls. The restrictions spread from dress codes to jobs, movement and assembly.

Herat has also seen pressure on the city’s economy and public order beyond the cafes. In late July 2024, money exchangers protested a new licensing regime that required expensive fees. In June 2026, dozens of women were detained over alleged dress-code violations, and Taliban forces responded to the protests with excessive use of force, UN experts found. Eyewitnesses saw live fire used to break up the demonstration, and at least two people were killed while more than 20 were injured.