Calls mount for Taliban to free girls' education activist

Matiullah Wesa, founder and president of Pen Path — a local nongovernmental group that travels across Afghanistan with a mobile school and library — was arrested in the Afghan capital on Monday.

Calls mounted Wednesday for the Taliban to free a girls' education activist arrested earlier this week in Kabul, as a government Minister defended the detention.

Matiullah Wesa, founder and president of Pen Path — a local nongovernmental group that travels across Afghanistan with a mobile school and library — was arrested in the Afghan capital on Monday.

Since their takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed restrictions on women’s and minority rights. Girls are barred from school beyond the sixth grade and last year, the Taliban banned women from going to universities.

Mr. Wesa has been outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to school and learn, and has repeatedly called on the Taliban-led government to reverse its bans. His most recent tweets coincided with the start of the new academic year in Afghanistan, with girls remaining shut out of classrooms and campuses.

Late Tuesday, the U.S. charge d'affaires for Afghanistan, Karen Decker, said she was disturbed by “multiple, disturbing reports” of Afghans being detained while peacefully protesting in support of their aspirations.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he was saddened to hear of Mr. Wesa's arrest.

Local reports said Taliban security forces detained Mr. Wesa after his return from a trip to Europe. Taliban authorities have not confirmed his detention, whereabouts or reasons for the arrest.