The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Herat has shut down a women’s carpet-weaving centre established with the support of the United Nations and jointly inaugurated by the Taliban-appointed governor of Herat and UN representatives.
Arafat Jamal, an official with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Afghanistan, said that 348 women were employed at the centre, making it the largest women’s carpet-weaving facility in western Afghanistan.
The centre was inaugurated in March 2026 and, with financial support from the Islamic Development Bank, initially provided employment and income-generating opportunities for 400 returnees, more than three-quarters of whom were women.
Speaking to a German media outlet, Arafat Jamal said one of the major challenges of working with the Taliban was that senior officials sometimes overturn agreements reached with local authorities.
He added that 60 per cent of UNHCR’s assistance in Afghanistan is allocated to women.
According to Jamal, 29 of UNHCR’s 200 employees in Afghanistan are Afghan women. They have been barred from entering the organisation’s offices for more than a year and are consequently forced to work from home.
Taliban officials have not yet commented on the closure of the women’s carpet-weaving centre in Herat.
Writer:Saeed Sameer
