KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday called for the immediate release of six staff members of a local women’s and children’s rights organization who it said have been “forcibly disappeared” by Taliban authorities in Kabul for nearly a month.
The six men, all staff members of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF), were detained on July 18 after Taliban authorities ordered them to return to the organization’s Kabul office to collect laptops and mobile phones that had previously been confiscated, HRW said.
The rights group said the Taliban have not disclosed the men’s whereabouts or provided information about their condition or any charges against them since their detention.
HRW urged Taliban authorities to allow the detainees’ families and lawyers access to them and to release them immediately if they have not been charged with a recognized offense.
“The Taliban seems to consider any effort to assist women and girls a threat to their abusive rule,” said Macarena Sáez, HRW’s women’s rights director. “They should immediately provide information on the six staff members’ whereabouts and release them if held unlawfully.”
According to HRW, Taliban security forces raided the WCLRF office in Kabul on June 21 and confiscated staff members’ laptops and phones. The group, citing a source familiar with the case, said the office was searched and sealed, while employees were later questioned about their work.
Citing a source familiar with the case, the rights group said security forces searched the office, sealed the premises and subsequently questioned staff members about the organization’s activities.
On July 18, Taliban authorities ordered six male employees to return to the office to collect the confiscated devices. Instead, all six were taken into custody, according to HRW.
“Their families are living in constant fear and uncertainty,” HRW quoted Zarqa Yaftali, the foundation’s former director, as saying.
Amnesty International and Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, have also called for the release of the six employees. Amnesty described the men’s detention as deeply alarming and urged the Taliban to end what it called a campaign of repression aimed at silencing critical voices.
The WCLRF was founded by Zarqa Yaftali, a women’s rights activist who left Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 and now lives outside the country. The organization conducts research and advocacy on women’s and children’s rights and works to promote access to justice and legal support.
The case comes amid broader reports by rights groups of Taliban authorities detaining rights activists, women-led organizations, journalists, former government officials and former security personnel.
Rights groups have accused the Taliban of using arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances to suppress critics and further restrict civic space in Afghanistan.
