KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, and Amnesty International have called for the immediate release of six employees of a local research organization who have been held by the Taliban in Kabul since last month.
The employees of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation were detained in late July after Taliban forces raided the organization’s office, seized equipment and belongings, and took six staff members into custody, according to Zarqa Yaftali, the foundation’s founder, who is currently living outside Afghanistan.
The reason for the raid and the arrests remains unclear. Taliban authorities have not commented on the incident.
“It’s 21 days since 6 staff of Women and Children Legal Research Foundation were arbitrarily detained in Kabul with no charges brought against them in court,” Bennett wrote on X on Friday. He said he was seriously concerned and urged their immediate release.
Amnesty International echoed the call, describing the detentions that began on July 18 as deeply alarming. “Amid the Taliban’s ongoing assault on human rights and civic space, the arbitrary detention since 18 July of six staff members of Women and Children Legal Research Foundation, a local NGO, is deeply alarming,” the rights group said. It urged the Taliban to end what it called a campaign of repression aimed at silencing critical voices.
The Women and Children Legal Research Foundation was established by Zarqa Yaftali, a women’s rights activist who has been living outside Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. The organization works on research, advocacy, and awareness programs focused on women’s and children’s rights, as well as promoting access to justice and legal support.
The case is part of a broader pattern of reported actions by Taliban authorities targeting rights activists, women-led organizations, journalists, former government officials, former security personnel, and media workers. Those detained in similar cases have often been accused of links with foreign organizations or exiled media outlets, supporting women’s rights, or criticizing Taliban policies.
Rights groups say the Taliban is using arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances to silence critics of its restrictive policies and further limit civic space in Afghanistan.
