Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan - The Taliban authorities in several Afghan provinces have ordered new restrictions on women's employment, according to Afghan media reports.

Female entrepreneurs in the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif, Pul-e-Khumri, and Kandahar have said their local Taliban authorities told them to close up business.

"A member of the vice and virtue department came and told us that we have one week to take away our shops and sit at home," a female shopkeeper in northern Mazar-e-Sharif told TOLOnews.

Co-working with men and non-compliance with Hijab directives are said to be the main reason for this decision.

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Female hairdressers in Pul-e-Khumeri city claimed that the Taliban consider their businesses seditious and against Sharia law.

However, Akif Mujahjir, spokesperson of the Taliban's religious police known as the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, on Tuesday told dpa that the reports were untrue.

Following the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, the hardliners imposed severe restrictions on women's right to education, work, and movement.

Currently, women and girls in the country cannot go to school beyond grade six or get a university education. Working in many offices, including with foreign organizations such as the United Nations, is banned. They are also not allowed to travel alone over long distances.