Local sources report that Taliban fighters disrupted the opening ceremony of a "café and library" established by four young women in Kabul. According to reports in the 8 Sobh daily newspaper, the "Dream of Women Café and Library" was scheduled to open and begin operations on Thursday, 9 Jowza/29 May 2024, in the Khairkhana area of Kabul's 11th district.
Sources confirm that the Taliban prevented the café and library from commencing operations, citing lack of permission from the relevant authorities as their reason. It is reported that several women were participating in the inauguration event when two Taliban fighters entered with guns and halted the program.
Sources recall that the young women had obtained permission to hold the inauguration two days prior from the 11th district authorities, but Taliban fighters warned them to return to the district and obtain a formal permit.
The four young women had invested more than ten thousand Afghanis to establish the café, aiming to create a safe space for women's leisure activities.
While the Taliban have consistently claimed that women's work in the private sector is still permitted, their actions towards women have often contradicted this assertion.

The Taliban’s disruption of the women-led “Dream of Women Café and Library” in Kabul reveals their ongoing obstruction of female-led private initiatives. Shutting down a modest, permitted project aimed at leisure and learning reflects a climate of intimidation, surveillance, and gender-based control, signaling that no space is free from ideological interference when led by women