24 Jul 2026 - 17:47
The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Afghan human rights activist Zarqa Yaftali said Friday that Taliban intelligence forces detained six staff members of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF) during a raid on the organization’s office in Kabul, calling for their immediate and unconditional release.
In a statement posted on X, Yaftali said the six detainees included two members of her family. She said Taliban authorities also seized office equipment during the raid, describing the incident as “another attack on Afghanistan’s civil society and human rights community.”
Yaftali said the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation has been legally registered in Kabul since 2003 and has worked to promote the rights of women and children through research, advocacy, training and legal reform.
She said she has not held any executive or managerial role in the foundation since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. According to Yaftali, the organization has since been managed by an acting director, while her own advocacy, research and online education initiatives for Afghan girls have been conducted independently through the Canada-based Women and Children Research and Advocacy Network and the Kabul School.
Yaftali said the foundation’s activities in recent years had been limited to implementing two human rights projects that began before the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan.
She said six days had passed since the detentions, but the families had received no information about the whereabouts, condition or legal status of those detained, raising concerns over their safety and well-being.
Yaftali said she had contacted U.N. agencies, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, diplomatic missions, special envoys and international human rights organizations to seek support for the detainees’ release.
The Taliban authorities have not publicly commented on Yaftali’s allegations.
