Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: AN elderly British couple who were detained in Afghanistan earlier this year have been freed.
Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, were detained by the Taliban’s Interior Ministry on February1. In March, they were then moved to a maximum- security prison in Kabul. They were safely released following mediation led by Qatar.
BBC quoting a Qatari official said they would fly to Qatar for medical checks before travelling on to the UK, despite having a long-term home in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province.
The Taliban said the couple had broken Afghan laws and were released after judicial proceedings – but has never disclosed the reason for their detention.
Peter and Barbie Reynolds married in Kabul in 1970 and spent the past 18 years running a charitable training programme that had been approved by local Taliban officials when the armed group reclaimed power in 2021.
Their release follows months of public lobbying by their family, who have described the harrowing conditions of their detention. The couple’s son, Jonathan Reynolds, told the BBC in July that his father had been suffering serious convulsion and his mother was “numb” from anaemia and malnutrition.
According to CBS News, the Reynolds were largely held separately during their detention, but the Qatari embassy in Kabul “provided them with critical support, including access to their doctor, delivery of medication, and regular communication with their family.”
