Restaurants owned, staffed by women now closed

KABUL (Tolo News): Women-owned businesses, especially restaurants and cafes, have remained closed for the past month since the Taliban entered Kabul city. Niki Tabasom spent one million Afs to open a café in Kabul three years ago. She said that her café’s staff was all women who lost their jobs when the previous government collapsed.
She was collecting about 20,000 Afs daily from her café. Niki Tabasom told TOLOnews: “The café has been closed since the Taliban came to Kabul. My colleagues and I lost our jobs.” In order to feed their families, women are seeking ways to work and earn money, Tabasom said. “Women are the breadwinners for some families, so these families are facing economic and financial problems,” she added.
The café’s employees said that each of them is leading a family. Opportunities for work must be found for women. Qadira said: “They should consider our demands. When they don’t pay attention, how will the Taliban start governance?” Sabrina Sultani said: “I was earning my livelihood by working at the café for two years. I helped my family.”
Afghan businesswomen lost millions of Afs as the Taliban took Afghanistan in mid-August. Noor-ul-Haq Omari, head of the Union of Kabul Workers, said: “Investments led by women have unfortunately stopped. They lost their jobs and funds. In some cases, the women have sold their company’s expensive things at a very low price.” Dozens of Afghan businesswomen had begun to invest in various fields across the country over the past few years, and now this has stopped.