(New York, August 12, 2026) – Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have forcibly disappeared six staff members of the nongovernmental group Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF) for nearly a month, Human Rights Watch said today. 
The Taliban have provided no information on the whereabouts of the organization’s leadership team, who were arrested in Kabul on July 18, 2026. The Women and Children Legal Research Foundation delivers assistance programs and conducts research and advocacy on women and children’s rights. The Taliban authorities should permit family members and legal counsel to visit those detained, and they should be immediately released unless they have been charged with a recognizable offense. 
“The Taliban seems to consider any effort to assist women and girls a threat to their abusive rule,” said Macarena Sáez, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “They should immediately provide information on the six staff members’ whereabouts and release them if held unlawfully.”
On June 21, Taliban security forces raided the office of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation in Kabul and confiscated laptops and phones from staff members. An informed source told Human Rights Watch that the security forces searched the office, sealed it, and, in subsequent weeks, interrogated staff members about their work. 
On July 18, Taliban officials ordered six male staff members to return to the organization’s office to collect their confiscated devices. Instead, all six were taken into custody. Family members of the detained men said that Taliban officials have not provided any information regarding their whereabouts, condition, or any charges they may be facing. 
“Their families are living in constant fear and uncertainty,” said Zarqa Yaftali, the foundation’s former director, who now runs a sister organization in Canada.
Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban has steadily stripped away the rights of women and girls, including blocking gi

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