The Taliban have released two United Nations staff members detained more than a week ago.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) said the two staffers were released on Thursday morning and appeared to be in good health.

“For us, we’re just delighted that they have been released, they’re in good health, and they face apparently no more judicial legal issues,” said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

The Taliban are yet to offer the reason behind the two men’s detention, officials said.

Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group monitoring the human rights abuses in the country, had said last week that six staff members of a local organisation working on women’s and children’s rights had “forcibly disappeared” for more than a month.

The two staffers were held in the western city of Herat on 9 August.

“Unama has not been formally notified of the reasons for their arrest and detention and continues to follow up with the de facto authorities,” the UN said in a statement.

The charges appear to have been dropped against the agency’s workers, it said.

The UN agency was also following up “to ensure respect for the privileges and immunities of the United Nations, as well as the safety, security and freedom of movement of United Nations and associated personnel throughout the country.”

Taliban officials are yet to issue a comment on the UN staff members’ release.

In a similar incident, the HRW said six senior members from the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation were detained on 18 July after they were told to come to their office to retrieve laptops and phones confiscated during a raid on the organisation’s offices about a month earlier.

The members were still reported to be in custody as of Thursday, the HRW said.

There has been no information from the hardline regime on the whereabouts of the staffers. The human rights watchdog has called for them to be allowed visits by family members and lawyers.

In the last several months, the Taliban have intensified its punitive measures against women, minorities, journalists and the international organisation staffers.

In June, at least 30 women were arrested in Herat for alleged infringements of the country’s draconian dress code for women, sparking a rare protest in the city which Taliban police violently suppressed, leaving at least one person dead.