“We notified them three months ago to close their coffee shops and not sell cigarettes so that society will be corrected and the young generation’s future will not be ruined,”  Abdul Ghafar Farooq, provincial director of Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice was quoted as saying by Ariana News.

The official said this while addressing a group of shopkeepers in Zaranj city.

Locals expressed fear that a large number of people will become unemployed with the implementation of the move.

“I invested $20,000 to establish a coffee shop. The Islamic Emirate is telling us to shut down, but we don’t have the capital to make a new investment. We already face dues on electricity and rent,” Nisar Ahmad, a coffee shop owner, told Ariana News.

At the event, officials also advised shopkeepers to attend congregational prayers and said that playing music at wedding halls should be avoided.

“During prayer time, shopkeepers should put a curtain in front of their shops or task his son or apprentice to guard the shop and he himself attend the congregational prayers,”  Ehsanullah Ehsan, head of the enforcement unit of the provincial Directorate of Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, told Ariana News.