Elderly British couple released by Taliban after months of detention

An elderly British couple have been freed from months of detention in Afghanistan.

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, have been released by the Taliban, the Foreign Office confirmed.

The couple were arrested as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan, in February.

They have been held since then without charge and for a long period had been separated and detained in a maximum security prison.

The couple are expected to now be reunited with their family.

They had lived in Afghanistan for nearly two decades, and ran a training and education organisation.

Speaking from a Kabul airport runway, Mrs Reynolds told Sky News she was looking forward to “seeing our children and our family again”.

Asked if she had a message for her family or friends, she responded: “God is good, as they say in Afghanistan.”

When asked if the couple would return to Afghanistan again in the future, she said: “If we can, we are Afghan citizens.”

A Qatari official at the airport told Sky the Reynolds’ release was because of “continuous efforts by my government to keep our policy in helping releasing hostages and our mediation and diplomacy”.

Middle East minister Hamish Falconer said: “I’m relieved to hear that Peter and Barbie Reynolds are no longer detained in Afghanistan, and their ordeal has come to an end. I look forward to them being reunited with their family soon.

“The UK has worked intensively since their detention and has supported the family throughout.

“The State of Qatar played an essential role in this case, for which I am hugely grateful. Qatar continues to play a critical role in conflict mediation in the Middle East and beyond.

“The Government’s ability to help those in need of consular support in Afghanistan is extremely limited. Our travel advice is clear that individuals should not travel to Afghanistan.”

In July, their son Jonathan told the PA news agency the situation had been “pretty frustrating”, after they made multiple appeals to the Taliban to release their parents.

The Taliban have never explained what prompted the couple’s detention.

A spokesperson at the Taliban government’s foreign ministry, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, said the couple “violated Afghan law” and were released from prison on Friday after a court hearing, according to a statement he posted on X.

But he did not say what law the couple were alleged to have broken.

The official thanked Qatar for its “sincere efforts and mediation” regarding the couple who, he said, were handed over to Richard Lindsay, the UK’s special envoy for Afghanistan.